LIBRARY 
University  o 

Calif  ornia 
Irvine 


33  H 

S3 


'The  best  known  and  best  loved  woman  in  Minnesota" 


MARIA  SANFORD 


BY 


HELEN  WHITNEY 

Formerly  Assistant  Professor  of  Rhetoric 
at  the  University  of  Minnesota 


MINNEAPOLIS 

Published  by  the  University  of  Minnesota 
1922 


DEMOCRAT   PRINTING    COMPANY 
MADISON,    WISCONSIN 


PREFACE 

No  other  Minnesota  woman  has  been  so 
widely  known  and  so  universally  loved  as  Ma- 
ria Sanford.  Her  life  was  filled  with  self  sacri- 
ficing labor  for  others,  and  with  earnest  en- 
deavor to  forward  every  good  cause.  She  was 
constantly  communicating,  through  her  own 
vigorous  personality,  a  zealous  enthusiasm  for 
education,  for  character-building,  and  for  civic 
righteousness  to  all  young  people  with  whom 
she  came  in  contact. 

A  great  throng  of  those  whom  she  has  inspired 
will  welcome  a  biography  that  will  pass  on  to 
other  young  people  a  portion  of  her  glowing 
spirit. 

This  story  of  her  life  has  been  written  by  one 
who  was  closely  associated  with  Miss  Sanford  in 
the  State  University.  The  autobiography  which 
was  already  begun,  has  been  incorporated  and 
much  material  has  been  furnished  by  friends  and 
relatives. 

The  Regents  of  the  University  have  encour- 
aged the  publication  by  personal  assistance  and 
have  permitted  the  volume  to  be  issued  by  the 
University  Press. 

iii 


iv  MARIA  SANFORD 

The  Alumni  Association  has  appointed  a  spe- 
cial committee  to  further  its  wide  distribution 
and  sale.  All  proceeds  are  to  be  used  for  a  Me- 
morial for  Miss  Sanford. 

The  plan  for  the  autobiography  as  well 
as  the  biography  was  conceived  and  has  been 
successfully  carried  through  by  Mrs.  David 
Simpson.  Special  thanks  for  accumulating  ma- 
terial are  due  to  Mrs.  Simpson,  and  Mrs.  Fred- 
erick Kenaston  of  Minneapolis,  to  Mrs.  Fred- 
eric Tryon  of  Washington,  to  Miss  Helen 
Wilder  of  Philadelphia,  to  the  Minneapolis  Jour- 
nal for  permission  to  reprint  the  copyrighted 
autobiography  and  to  Mr.  G.  A.  Hubner  for  per- 
mission to  use  the  copyrighted  frontispiece. 

Assistance  in  revision  and  correction  of  manu- 
script has  been  rendered  by  Miss  Elizabeth 
Lynskey  and  Mrs.  Simpson.  To  all  of  these  as 
well  as  to  the  author  it  has  been  a  labor  of  love. 

ALUMNI  COMMITTEE. 


CONTENTS 

Chapter  Page 

I.     THE  UNFINISHED  AUTOBIOGRAPHY     .       1 

II.  A  CONNECTICUT  YANKEE  . 

III.  THE  TEACHER    .... 

IV.  THE  MINNESOTA  PIONEER 
V.  CHRISTIAN'S  BURDEN 

VI.  THE  NEIGHBOR 

VII.  THE  END  OF  THE  TEACHER'S  ROAD    .  184 

VIII.  "GENERAL  HELPING"        .        .        .218 

IX.    HARVEST 260 

X.  THE  FAREWELL                                   .  301 


MARIA  SANFORD 


CHAPTER  I. 
THE  UNFINISHED  AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

I  come  of  good,  strong  New  England  stock. 
My  ancestors  were  among  the  first  settlers  of 
the  town  where  I  was  born,  Saybrook,  Connecti- 
cut, called  later,  since  the  town  was  divided, 
Old  Saybrook.  Saybrook  was  named  for  Lord 
Seal  and  Lord  Brooke  of  the  London  Company, 
who  were  sending  over  settlers  to  the  New 
World.  Lord  Fenwick  came  with  the  first  set- 
tlers to  Saybrook,  bringing  his  young  bride, 
who,  after  about  a  year,  succumbed  to  the  hard- 
ships of  the  new  country.  Her  Elizabethan 
tomb,  which  her  stricken  husband  brought  over 
and  set  up  over  her  grave  beside  the  fort,  was 
one  of  the  most  marked  antiquities  of  old  Con- 
necticut, but  it  had  to  give  way  to  the  necessi- 
ties of  commerce.  When  the  Valley  road  was 
built  it  needed  a  terminal  outside  the  bar  at  the 

1 


2  MARIA  SANFORD 

mouth  of  the  Connecticut  River,  and  Lady 
Fenwick  's  tomb  and  her  remains  were  removed 
to  the  cemetery.  My  cousin,  a  physician,  super- 
intended the  removal,  and  he  found  her  skele- 
ton entire  except  the  flange  of  one  toe.  And  the 
inner  coil  of  her  chestnut  hair  was  still  lustrous 
after  about  two  hundred  years  in  the  grave. 
As  Saybrook  was  situated  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Connecticut  River,  the  settlers  thought  it  would 
be  a  city,  and  laid  out  the  main  street  sixteen 
rods  wide  and  two  miles  long,  with  a  double 
row  of  elms  shading  the  walk  on  each  side  of 
the  roadway;  a  magnificent  street  still.  So 
bravely  our  Puritan  ancestors  built  for  the 
future. 

Yale  College  was  first  located  at  Saybrook, 
under  the  name  of  the  Connecticut  Colleague 
School.  But  in  1716  it  had  been  found  that  the 
bar  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  would  hinder 
commerce;  and  New  Haven,  with  its  unob- 
structed harbor,  was  outgrowing  Saybrook,  and 
the  college  was  removed  to  that  city  and  named 
Yale  College  for  a  benevolent  donor,  Elihu  Yale. 

My  father 's  mother  was  Elizabeth  Chapman. 
Her  great  grandfather,  George  Chapman, 
erected,  about  1650,  the  first  frame  house  in 
Saybrook.  This  structure,  about  twenty  feet 
square,  was  so  well  built  that  it  formed  still  the 


MARIA  SANFORD  3 

summer  kitchen  of  the  house  in  which  I  lived 
from  my  sixth  to  my  eleventh  year.  George 
Chapman  bought  his  wife,  Annie  Bliss,  from 
off  ship  when  the  London  Company  "sent  over 
chaste  young  women  to  be  wives  of  the  plant- 
ers", who  paid  the  passage  of  the  girls  and 
married  them.  This  Annie  Bliss  became  the 
mother  of  a  notable  race.  Those  whom  I  re- 
member were  tall,  straight,  fine  looking,  intel- 
ligent men  with  more  of  individuality  and 
initiative  than  are  given  to  most  people.  I  was 
told,  as  a  child,  that  my  ancestors  in  two  lands, 
the  Chapmans  on  my  father's  side  and  the 
Clarks  on  my  mother's  for  three  generations 
went  up  to  the  general  court  (legislature)  to- 
gether when  the  people  sent  their  best  men. 

My  mother's  father,  Rufus  Clark,  enlisted  in 
the  Revolutionary  army  at  seventeen  years  of 
age,  and  this  gives  me  my  membership  in  the 
D.  A.  R.  He  became  a  man  much  trusted  and 
esteemed,  was  made  deacon  of  the  church  and 
justice  of  the  peace,  and,  I  might  say,,  general 
counsellor.  He  was  a  great  reader  and  had 
quite  a  library  of  his  own,  in  those  days  when 
the  Bible  and  the  almanac  were  considered  suf- 
ficient for  everybody  but  the  minister  and  the 
doctor;  and  he  read  all  the  books  he  could 
borrow. 


4  MARIA  SANFOBD 

I  had  leaves  of  an  old  account  book  of  my 
grandfather's,  and  this  is  the  way  they  read: 
One  gallon  of  rum,  one  gallon  of  molasses,  one 
pound  of  ginger,  one  gallon  of  rum,  five  pounds 
of  sugar,  one  pound  of  saleratus,  one  gallon  of 
rum.  About  every  third  item  a  gallon  of  rum, 
and  this  a  deacon  and  a  justice!  Everybody 
drank  in  those  days,  and  treated  the  help  in  the 
field  and  the  minister  when  he  came  to  call.  My 
grandfather  read  of  the  temperance  movement 
in  England  before  it  was  started  in  this  country ; 
and  convinced  of  its  importance,  banished 
liquor  from  his  household  and  took  coffee  in- 
stead to  his  laborers  in  the  field.  When  some 
years  after,  the  temperance  movement  was 
started  in  Connecticut,  the  workers,  who  were 
told  of  his  practice,  came  to  get  my  grandfather 
to  sign  the  pledge.  He  told  them  he  was  heartily 
in  sympathy  with  temperance  and  practiced 
it,  but  did  not  like  to  sign  a  pledge.  They  were 
disappointed,  of  course.  The  next  day  he  was 
down  street,  and  the  temperance  workers  were 
laboring  with  a  man  who  was  ruining  himself 
and  his  family  by  drink. 

"I  think  jest  ez  Deacon  Clark  does",  he 
said,  "I  ken  leave  off,  but  I  don't  want  to 
sign." 

"Where's  your  paper?"  asked  my  grand- 


MARIA  SANFORD  5 

father,  and  gave  them  his  name.  He  didn't 
want  such  hangers-on  to  his  skirts. 

My  mother's  mother,  Lydia  Bushnell  Clark, 
was  a  very  handsome  woman,  with  beautiful 
soft  brown  hair,  sparkling  bright  eyes,  clear 
complexion  and  full  red  lips.  Her  husband, 
my  grandfather,  was  almost  as  homely  as  his 
wife  was  handsome.  My  mother  told  me  that 
.when  she  was  a  girl  of  sixteen,  the  youngest  of 
five  children,  an  old  suitor  of  my  grandmother, 
who  had  been  twenty-five  years  out  West  (east- 
ern Ohio)  came  to  visit  his  old  friends.  She 
said  that  she  was  aware,  as  she  was  sitting  by 
the  fireplace,  that  he  was  looking  at  her  very 
earnestly.  Finally  he  said :  ' '  You  don 't  look 
much  like  your  mother."  She  said  she  knew 
how  to  take  the  compliment.  If  she  didn't 
"handsome  much"  somebody  had  bequeathed 
her  a  wonderful  voice  .and  a  sweetness  of  dis- 
position far  richer  than  mere  beauty.  She  sang 
soprano,  and  her  voice  was  full,  rich  and  clear. 
She  would  take  the  high  tenor  and  carry  it  with 
perfect  ease  and  accuracy.  But  it  was  not  so 
much  the  range  of  her  voice  as  its  quality,  what 
the  elocutionists  call  its  "timbre",  that  was 
remarkable.  It  just  took  hold  of  your  heart- 
strings. 

My  uncle,  her  brother,  William  Clark,  was 


6  MARIA  SANFORD 

six  years  her  elder.  He  was  a  school  teacher, 
and  I  used  to  tell  my  little  companions  with 
pride  that  I  had  an  uncle  who  had  taught  school 
forty  years.  I  little  thought  that  I  myself 
should  teach  fifty-four  years.  In  those  early 
days  teachers  had  to  be  severe  to  be  successful, 
and  my  uncle  was  a  very  successful  teacher. 
My  mother  went  to  school  to  him,  and  he  was 
so  much  afraid  of  being  considered  partial  to 
her  that  he  was  so  strict  (nobody  could  be 
severe  with  her),  that  she  called  him  "Mr. 
Clark"  at  home.  He  told  me,  after  mother's 
death,  that  when  they  used  to  go  out  into  com- 
pany together  he  was  very  proud  of  her,  for 
everybody  loved  her  so.  But  she  always  obeyed 
him  as  if  he  had  been  her  father.  Once  they 
were  invited  to  a  part}7  given  to  the  congress- 
man of  that  district,  who  lived  in  an  adjoining 
town.  There  was  a  popular  song  at  that  time 
which  my  mother  did  not  like;  she  thought  it 
silly.  She  was  urged  to  sing  it  at  the  party, 
but  declined.  When  she  was  still  urged,  Uncle 
William  said,  "Sing  it,  Mary",  and  she  did. 
When  she  was  through,  the  congressman  said, 
much  to  her  delight,  "I  have  heard  better  songs, 
but  never  a  sweeter  singer." 

My  father,  Henry  E.  Sanford,  was  like  the 
Chapmans,  tall  and  straight,   six  feet  in  his 


MARIA  SANFOBD  7 

stockings.  His  characteristics  were  strength, 
courage,  energy  and  skill,  and  a  good  cheer 
which  no  misfortune  could  crush.  He  had  won- 
derfully intelligent  hands.  He  never  wasted  a 
minute.  He  learned  the  shoemaker's  trade  and 
worked  at  it,  giving  his  wages  to  his  father,  as 
was  customary,  until  he  was  twenty-one.  Then 
he  worked  for  himself,  and  by  the  time  he  was 
twenty-five  he  had  laid  up  enough  to  warrant 
his  marrying.  And  he  won  a  prize.  The  mar- 
riage was  an  ideal  one.  My  mother  and  father 
were  so  proud  of  each  other,  so  ambitious,  and 
looked  to  the  future  with  such  confidence  and 
hope !  I  love  to  imagine  those  early  prosperous 
years,  when  my  father  bought  and  paid  for  the 
comfort  of  a  little  house,  which  my  mother's 
neatness  and  good  taste,  and  their  mutual  affec- 
tion, made  a  beautiful  home. 

But  their  love  was  not  dependent  on  good  for- 
tune. In  the  darker  years  that  followed,  when 
loss  and  hardship  came,  there  was  never  a  flaw 
in  their  trust  and  devotion.  Until  the  final 
parting,  my  mother  always  looked  to  my  father 
for  courage  and  wise  direction,  and  he  to  her 
for  inspiration  and  that  graciousness  which 
a  strong  man  gains  from  a  loving  woman  of 
refinement  and  delicacy.  There  was  never  any 
bickering  between  them.  I  remember  all  too 


8  MARIA  SANFORD 

well  their  very  humble  surroundings,  their 
hard  toil,  their  careful  economy,  but  I  do  not 
remember — and  I  certainly  should  had  it  oc- 
curred, for  I  remember  that  when  my  father 
put  up  a  stove-pipe  we  children  kept  out  of  his 
way — I  do  not  remember  a  single  sharp  or  un- 
kind word,  but  always  the  gentle  tone  and  the 
glance  of  love  and  sympathy. 

I  recall  that  when  I  was  a  very  little  girl 
father  came  home  one  night  from  his  work.  I 
do  not  know  why  this  incident  should  be 
stamped  on  my  memory  except 

"Set  by  some  mordant  of  fancy 
It  insists  on  its  right  to  be  there." 

My  father  leaned  over  my  mother's  shoulders 
and  said  tenderly,  "Been  ironing  today, 
Mary?"  (ironing  was  always  hard  for  her) 
and  kissed  her.  And  the  radiant  smile  that 
lighted  up  her  face  obliterated  all  signs  of  care 
and  weariness. 

My  father  never  felt  it  a  hardship  to  go  out 
of  his  way  to  do  the  little  delicate  things  that 
pleased  mother.  His  hours  of  labor  were  long 
and  hard,  but  he  never  sat  down  to  the  table  in 
his  shirtsleeves,  and  when  he  was  running  a 
farm,  I  think  he  would  have  gone  without  a 
meal  any  time  rather  than  sit  down  to  the  table 


MARIA  SANFORD  9 

without  changing  to  his  slippers,  because  he 
knew  mother  noticed  and  disliked  the  odors  of 
the  barnyard  and  stable. 

They  each  loved  to  do  what  the  other  liked; 
and  the  same  spirit  extended  to  us  children 
and  to  neighbors  and  friends.  My  father  and 
mother  were  both  deeply  religious  but  never 
bigoted.  Father  was  superintendent  of  the 
Sunday  school  and  leader  of  the  choir  and  al- 
ways the  minister's  right  hand  man. 

My  parents  were  poor,  but  there  was  no  sor- 
didness  in  their  poverty.  I  never  heard  my 
father  plead  poverty  when  the  contribution  box 
was  going  round.  There  was  a  bright,  genial 
hospitality  in  their  home.  My  mother  was  an 
excellent  cook  and  could  make  the  plainest  and 
simplest  food  attractive,  and  kinsfolk  and 
strangers  loved  to  visit  them;  and  distin- 
guished guests,  usually  lovers  of  music,  who 
sometimes  came,  not  only  said  but  showed  that 
they  wanted  to  come  again. 

Is  it  strange  that  having  come  from  such  a 
home,  I  believe  with  almost  the  enthusiasm  of  a 
zealot  in  the  happiness  and  beauty  of  the 
homes  of  the  poor?  Those  so-called  homes 
where  squalor  and  vice  and  disease  and  degra- 
dation thrive,  will,  I  believe,  be  abolished  by 
social  progress;  but  in  the  homes  of  self-re- 


10  MARIA  SANFOED 

specting,  hard  working  poverty,  there  may  and 
should  be  as  much  refinement  and  courtesy  and 
tender  love  as  in  a  palace.  I  believe  we  should 
bring  up  our  boys  and  girls  to  expect  to  make 
such  homes,  and  to  prepare  for  them  by  tender 
care  of  their  mothers  and  sisters  at  home,  and 
to  save  the  time  and  money  they  spend  at  the 
movies  in  preparing  themselves  to  enjoy  and 
make  others  enjoy  music  and  books  and  pic- 
tures that  give  delight  to  the  home.  And  I 
want  our  young  couples  to  feel  that  a  single 
room,  with  a  bed  in  the  wall,  and  a  kitchen  in 
a  closet,  and  a  bathtub  under  the  table,  a  place 
from  which  they  are  obliged  to  go  out  every 
night  for  entertainment,  is  not  the  nucleus  of 
a  true  home;  that  the  plainest  house  in  the 
suburbs,  where  there  can  be  trees  and  flowers 
and  children,  where  there  will  be  burdens  and 
duties  and  simple  hospitality,  is  far  better  for 
the  present  and  infinitely  superior  for  the  fu- 
ture happy  home.  But  I  am  getting  ahead  of 
and  away  from  my  story. 

Some  time  in  the  first  seven  years  of  his 
married  life,  my  father  went  to  Georgia  and 
set  up  a  shoe  store,  and  he  was  successful. 
But  the  years  of  1836  and  1837  were  not  only 
years  of  financial  panic,  but  also  of  anti-slav- 
ery agitation  and  of  great  prejudice  in  the 


MAEIA  SANFOED  11 

South  against  Northern  people.  Somebody 
sent  my  father  anti-slavery  newspapers.  He 
never  saw  them.  They  were  taken  out  of  his 
office  and  distributed  among  his  customers. 
All  at  once  his  business  fell  flat.  He  could  sell 
nothing,  he  could  collect  nothing,  for  even  in 
the  best  days  Southerners,  at  that  time,  paid 
their  bills  only  once  a  year.  He  came  home 
to  do  the  best  he  could  by  his  business  cred- 
itors. He  sold  the  place  he  and  my  mother 
loved  so  well,  moved  his  family  into  part  of 
his  father's  house,  and  when  he  had  thus 
raised  all  that  he  could,  there  still  remained  a 
debt  of  a  thousand  dollars,  for  which  he  gave 
his  note;  and  of  which,  I  rejoice  to  say,  he 
paid  every  cent.  It  was  a  heavy  burden  for 
a  man  with  only  his  hands  and  courage,  and 
with  a  delicate  wife  and  little  children  to  care 
for,  but  he  bore  it  with  unwavering  cheerful- 
ness. He  might  have  taken  advantage  of  the 
bankrupt  law,  but  he  said  proudly:  "No  man 
shall  ever  look  me  in  the  face  and  say  I 
wronged  him  out  of  a  penny."  My  mother 
was  in  perfect  accord  with  this  course,  but  it 
was  very  hard  on  her.  My  grandfather's 
house  was  not  fitted  for  two  families.  My 
father's  mother  had  died  years  before;  and 
the  stepmother  who  took  her  place,  though 


12  MARIA  SANFORD 

kindly  at  heart,  was  a  little  sharp  with  her 
tongue,  and  mother  was  always  sensitive  lest 
she  should  infringe  on  others'  rights  and 
privileges.  And  with  little  children  it  was 
not  always  easy  to  be  sure.  It  was  just  three 
months  before  my  birth  that,  when  the  last 
things  were  placed  on  the  load,  my  mother 
bade  farewell  to  the  home  of  so  much  happi- 
ness, and  with  her  two  little  girls  walked  up 
to  my  grandfather's  house.  A  prominent 
man  of  the  town  met  her  on  the  way.  He  said 
to  his  wife  when  he  (got  home,  "I  hope  I  may 
never  see  another  woman  look  as  Mary  Clark 
looked  today,"  calling  her  by  her  maiden 
name,  which  they  all  knew  and  loved. 

In  my  young  womanhood  I  was  subject  to 
deep  depression,  and  my  mother  said  to  me: 
''It  is  no  wonder  to  me,  when  I  recall  how  I 
suffered  in  the  months  before  you  were  born. ' ' 
Fortunately  for  me  my  father's  spirit 
triumphed  in  me.  I  outlived  the  days  of  dark- 
ness and  have  been  able,  until  bowed  by  the 
weight  of  years,  like  my  father  to  square  my 
shoulders  to  heavy  burdens,  and  not  only 
stand  erect  but  keep  a  cheerful  spirit.  But  I 
was  doomed  in  the  beginning  to  add  to  my 
parents'  trouble.  I  was  born  under  a  cold 
star;  in  Connecticut,  in  December,  the  eigh- 


MARIA  SANFORD  13 

teenth  or  nineteenth.  It  was  near  midnight, 
and  nobody  ever  knew  whether  before  or  after. 
I  have  chosen  to  celebrate  the  latter  day.  The 
old  fashioned  houses  were  built  with  great 
beams  resting  for  support  on  the  chimney.  It 
was  so  cold  that  in  the  effort  to  keep  my 
mother 's  room  warm  by  a  fire  in  the  fireplace 
they  set  the  house  on  fire,  and  when  I  was  a 
week  old,  mother  and  child  had  to  be  removed. 
But  this  was  not  the  worst.  When  I  was 
six  weeks  old  my  mother  was  taken  with  fever, 
and  I  had  to  be  weaned.  I  would  have  no 
substitute  for  the  mother's  breast  and  opened 
my  mouth  and  screamed.  By  all  reports,  my 
voice  was  strong  even  then.  There  were  no 
trained  nurses  in  those  days,  and  even  if  there 
had  been  my  parents  could  not  have  afforded 
one,  and  I  wore  out  the  strength  and  patience 
of  aunts  and  cousins  who  waited  from  day  to 
day  to  see  me  starve  to  death.  At  last  an  old 
woman  back  in  the  woods  consented  to  take 
the  baby  who  wouldn't  eat  and  would  cry  all 
the  time.  When  they  were  trying  to  feed  me 
with  a  spoon  I  snatched  the  cup  and  drank — 
a  rather  novel  proceeding  for  a  baby  less  than 
two  months  old — but  I  have  always  liked  to 
have  a  way  of  my  own.  After  a  week  or  two, 
my  grandfather,  in  going  to  the  woods,  went 


14  MAEIA  SANFORD 

out  of  his  way  to  see  the  baby  and  came  home 
saying,  "I  do  believe  that  child  is  determined 
to  live. ' '  I  used  to  tell  my  father  and  mother 
laughingly  that  they  could  have  spared  me 
then,  for  their  hands  were  full.  I  surely 
ought  to  do  some  good  in  the  world  after  such 
a  disastrous  beginning. 

As  soon  as  my  father  could  settle  up  his 
business  affairs,  he  went  to  Meriden,  Con- 
necticut, to  work  for  his  brother,  who  had  an 
auger  factory  there.  My  father  took  charge 
of  a  room.  The  men  worked  ten  hours,  and 
father  had  to  open  up  and  (get  things  ready 
before  the  men  came,  and  straighten  out  and 
close  up  after  they  had  gone;  so  that  he  had 
nearly  eleven  hours.  And  he  received  a  dol- 
lar and  a  half  a  day.  When  I  was  six  months 
old  father  moved  his  family  to  Meriden,  a  dis- 
tance of  about  forty  miles.  He  hired  a  little 
house.  It  was  dirty  and  dilapidated,  but 
there  was  a  beautiful  big  willow  tree  in  front 
of  it.  Father  fixed  up  the  house,  and  mother 
made  it  neat,  and  they  were  very  happy  in  it. 
There  my  first  memories  began. 

I  remember  how  the  doctor  took  my  head 
between  his  knees  and  pulled  out  a  back  tooth 
with  turnkeys.  The  idea  of  putting  that  sav- 
age instrument  into  the  mouth  of  a  little  child ! 


MARIA  SANFOED  15 

And  they  had  no  way  of  dulling  the  pain  ex- 
cept with  sugar  plums  that  the  teacher  who 
came  in  gave  me  if  I  would  stop  crying.  My 
father  had  gone  to  choir  rehearsal  when  the 
pain  in  my  tooth  became  unendurable ;  and  my 
sister,  ten  years  old,  walked  in  the  dark  the 
long  two  miles  and  a  half  after  the  doctor.  I 
am  very  sure  she  was  neither  reluctant  nor 
afraid.  Perhaps  the  experiences  of  those 
days  gave  children  stronger  nerves. 

What  wonderful  changes  have  taken  place  in 
the  compass  of  my  memory!  I  remember  our 
first  stove.  It  was  called  the  "Franklin"  stove 
after  Benjamin  Franklin,  who  invented  it.  It 
was  really  a  castiron  fireplace,  set  out  in  the 
room  and  connected  to  the  chimney  by  a  stove  • 
pipe;  but  it  had  the  great  advantage  that  we 
could  get  all  around  it.  I  remember  our  first 
cookstove.  It  was  a  curious  affair;  just  a 
firebox  with  a  hearth  and  covers  and  the  flue 
that  was  supported  by  the  back  leg,  and  an  oven 
in  the  stovepipe.  But,  crude  as  it  was,  it  was 
a  great  improvement ;  for  before  that  time  the 
cooking  had  been  done  in  the  fireplace  by  means 
of  a  crane  and  pothooks  supporting  the  kettles 
over  the  fire.  It  was  back-breaking  work,  and 
it  is  not  strange  that  so  many  men  buried  two 
wives  and  sometimes  more.  The  baking  was 


16  MARIA  SANFORD 

done  in  the  big  brick  oven,  and  for  this  it  was 
necessary  to  have  dry  wood.  Green  wood  would 
sizzle  and  at  last  burn  on  the  hearth,  but  for  the 
oven  the  wood  must  be  dry ;  and  it  was  counted 
one  of  the  evidences  of  a  man 's  provident  kind- 
ness that  he  kept  on  hand  a  good  supply  of  dry 
wood  for  the  oven.  As  we  used  to  sing  in  our 
childish  plays, 

"You  must  prove  constant  and  prove  good, 
And  keep  your  old  woman  in  oven  wood. ' ' 

By  the  way,  this  form  of  expression,  "my  man" 
and  "my  woman"  and  often  "my  old  woman" 
was  common  in  those  days  when  husband  and 
wife  spoke  of  each  other.  It  was  remarked  by 
the  neighbors  that  my  mother  always  said  * '  Mr. 
Sanford"  when  she  spoke  of  father,  and  we 
were  a  little  proud,  as  children,  that  we  never 
said  or  heard  at  home,  in  speaking  of  the  neigh- 
bors, "down  to  Spencer's"  or  "Ingham's",  but 
always  down  to  "Mr.  Spencer's"  or  "Mr.  Ing- 
ham's",  and  even  "down  to  Mr.  Sheffield's 
store."  We  never,  as  children,  called  our 
cousins  who  were  young  men  and  women  simply 
Azuba,  Rufus,  and  Lydia  Ann,  but  always 
Cousin  Azuba,  Cousin  Rufus,  and  Cousin  Lydia 
Ann. 

I  dwelt  upon  this  because  some  children  to- 


MARIA  SANFORD  17 

day  seem  to  think  it  smart  to  be  careless  of  the 
handles  of  their  words.  When  they  come  to  be 
men  and  women  they  will  be  very  glad  if  they 
have  early  learned  deference  for  their  elders, 
both  in  speech  and  thought.  The  time  spent  in 
learning  habits  of  courtesy  yields  big  interest, 
not  only  in  the  esteem  of  others,  but  in  the  de- 
light in  one's  own  soul. 

Going  back  to  the  stoves — When  I  was  young 
there  was  no  fire  in  the  churches.  Women  car- 
ried little  foot  stoves :  a  copper  box  about  eight 
or  ten  inches  square,  cased  in  wood,  in  which 
they  carried  a  pan  of  hot  coals;  and  at  noon 
they  went  to  the  near  neighbors'  and  replen- 
ished it.  The  children  wriggled  and  kept  them- 
selves warm,  and  the  men — they  were  accus- 
tomed to  cold.  When  some  of  the  neighboring 
parishes  had  installed  stoves  the  matter  was 
brought  up  in  the  church  in  Saybrook.  A  few 
of  the  older  people  were  "dead  sot"  against 
it;  but  the  young  people  prevailed,  and  the 
stoves  were  put  in.  It  was  in  December;  but 
the  first  Sunday  after  the  stoves  had  been  in- 
stalled was  warm  and  pleasant,  and  so  they 
built  no  fire,  a  fact  that  was  not  known  by  the 
congregation  generally.  In  the  middle  of  the 
sermon  one  of  the  bitter  opponents  of  the  stove 
got  up  and  walked  out.  He  was  followed  by  a 

2" 


18  MARIA  SANFORD 

second  and  then  by  a  third.  ''Couldn't  stand 
the  heat  of  them  stoves",  they  said.  "Knew  I 
couldn't  stand  the  heat  of  them  stoves."  The 
ridicule  when  they  came  to  find  out  that  no  fire 
had  been  built  silenced  opposition  forever. 

Our  houses  were  lighted,  when  I  was  young, 
with  tallow  dips  and  sometimes  by  whaleoil 
lamps ;  and  how  they  did  smell !  Finally  there 
came  the  brilliant  light  of  kerosene  oil.  It  was 
a  great  improvement,  so  far  as  eyesight  was 
concerned;  but  the  cleaning  of  the  lamps,  in  a 
careful  household,  was  a  tedious  and  unpleas- 
ant task.  Where  the  housewife  was  careless  the 
oil  would  run  down  from  lamps  and  be  trans- 
ferred from  her  fingers  to  her  food.  I  remem- 
ber teachers  bewailed  their  experiences  in  such 
households.  One  friend  of  mine  said  of  one 
such  family,  "They  eat  kerosene  oil  all  the 
time.  They  don't  know  it  isn't  good."  If  the 
woman  of  that  day  could  have  seen  one  turn  a 
button  and  flood  the  room  with  electric  light, 
perfectly  clean,  she  would  have  thought  the  mil- 
lenium  was  surely  coming. 

The  hardest  of  all  the  tasks  of  the  household 
was  soapmaking.  The  big  barrel  had  to  be  got 
in,  and  the  grease  and  the  potash  and  the  lye 
from  a  barrel  of  wood  ashes  all  supplied.  It 
required  skill,  and  it  was  hard  work,  especially 


MARIA  SANFORD  19 

when  the  soap  didn't  come,  and  they  had  to  stir 
it  hour  after  hour  with  a  big  stick.  It  was  con- 
sidered the  woman's  privilege  to  be  cross  on 
the  day  she  made  soap.  I  remember  one  of  our 
neighbors  saying  that  when  his  wife  made  soap 
he  always  threw  his  hat  in  when  he  came  home, 
and  if  that  came  out  spitefully,  he  concluded 
it  was  judicious  to  hang  around  awhile  before 
he  went  in  himself.  But  my  father  always  con- 
trived to  find  time  to  make  soap  for  my  mother. 
The  means  of  transportation  of  those  days 
was  very  crude.  Very  few  people  had  carriages 
or  carryalls;  but  most  rode  in  open  wagons, 
sometimes  with  and  often  without  springs.  The 
stage  coach,  as  everybody  knows,  was  the  means 
of  public  travel.  My  father  used  to  insist,  after 
the  railways  came  into  fashion  and  were  consid- 
ered by  most  so  dangerous,  that  they  were  far 
safer,  in  proportion  to  travel,  than  the  old  stage 
coach.  He  said  that  when  he  was  coming  home 
from  Georgia  they  would  often  start  on  a  dan- 
gerous road  with  a  driver  who  came  out  of  the 
tavern  "half  seas  over."  The  man  would  whip 
his  horses  into  a  gallop  at  the  top  of  a  moun- 
tain, and  the  stage  would  sway  over  to  the  edge 
of  a  precipice;  only  a  kind  Providence  and  the 
sure-footed  horses  keeping  them  from  a  sudden 
death. 


20 


I  remember  the  building  of  what  I  think  was 
the  first  railway  in  the  United  States.  It  was 
the  switch  back  at  Mauch  Chunk,  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, for  taking  coal  out  of  the  mines  by  grav- 
ity. But  I  believe  the  first  road  for  passengers 
was  between  Hartford  and  New  Haven.  I  re- 
member the  hordes  of  Irish  that  -built  it;  I 
remember  their  little  dump  carts  and  their  dirty 
children.  I  remember  how,  in  the  middle  of  the 
night,  the  men  and  women  used  to  come  howl- 
ing home  from  a  wake,  drunk  and  quarreling. 
But  the  grandchildren  of  these  same  Irish  are 
the  prominent  and  honored  citizens  of  Meriden 
today.  So  let  our  present  foreigners  keep  good 
heart.  The  Scandinavians  are  already  coming 
into  their  own;  but  the  Italians  and  the  Poles 
and  the  Russians,  if  they  will  but  stand  stanchly 
by  our  American  institutions  and  keep  their 
children  in  school,  may  hope  to  see  their  grand- 
children the  wealthy  and  responsible  citizens  of 
Minneapolis  in  the  decades  to  come. 

My  home  was  about  three  miles  from  the 
church,  and  in  those  days  everybody  except 
very  little  children  went  to  church.  My  father 
hired  a  sitting  for  my  mother  in  a  neighbor's 
wagon ;  but  of  my  earliest  recollection,  when  I 
was  about  three  years  old,  I  walked  with  my 
father.  My  mother  was  too  scrupulous  about 


MARIA  SANFORD  21 

infringing  upon  others '  rights,  when  one  sitting- 
was  hired,  to  have  taken  her  little  girl  upon 
her  lap.  And  so  I  walked;  and  when  I  was 
tired  my  father  took  me  in  his  arms.  I  count 
this  experience  one  of  the  valuable  ones  of  my 
life :  the  close  association  of  my  father  and  the 
early  formed  habit  of  enjoying  a  long  walk 
This  habit  certainly  contributed  much  not  only 
to  my  happiness  but  to  my  health  and  vigor. 
All  along  the  years,  whenever  I  didn't  have 
household  duties,  I  would  take  freely  a  walk  of 
five  miles  before  breakfast,  and  enjoy  it. 

In  regard  to  the  church,  there  were  some 
curious  customs  in  those  days.  One  was  that 
a  mother  or  some  elder  woman  sat  at  the  end 
of  the  pew,  and  the  girls  next  to  her,  and  after 
them  the  boys  next  to  their  father.  I  remem- 
ber a  wealthy  man,  a  deacon  of  the  church, 
who  had  a  large  family  of  children.  His  wife 
was  usually  at  home  with  the  baby,  and  he 
would  come  with  eight  or  nine  little  fellows. 
The  boys  and  girls  would  come  crowding  into 
the  church,  and  at  the  door  of  the  pew  he 
would  sort  them  out,  pushing  in  this  girl  and 
pulling  out  that  boy  until  he  had  them  all  ar- 
ranged with  due  decorum.  The  only  excep- 
tion to  this  rule  was  that  the  youngest,  even  if 
it  was  a  girl,  could  sit  next  to  its  father  so 


22  MARIA  SANFOED 

that  it  could  lay  its  head  on  his  lap  and  go  to 
sleep. 

Another  custom  was  that  the  choir  was 
seated  in  a  gallery  over  the  door,  opposite  to 
the  minister  and  behind  the  congregation; 
and  when  they  sang  the  people  stood  up  and 
turned  their  backs  upon  the  minister  and  faced 
the  choir.  This  position  of  the  choir  explains 
what  some  of  our  young  people  fail  to  under- 
stand in  Lowell's  description  of  the  girl  who 
was  in  love: 

She  thought  no  Vice  hed  sech  a  swing 

Ez  hisn  in  the  choir; 
My!  When  he  made  Ole  Hunderd  ring, 

She  knowed  the  Lord  was  nigher. 

An'  she'd  blush  scarlit  right  in  prayer, 
When  her  new  meetin '-bunnit 

Felt  somehow  thru'  its  crown  a  pair 
0 '  blue  eyes  sot  upun  it. 

"Blue  Eyes"  were  in  the  choir  loft  behind  the 
congregation. 

And  in  those  days  the  colored  people  occu- 
pied the  seats  in  the  rear  of  the  church.  I 
think  I  must  have  been  about  three  years  old 
when  I  first  discovered  them;  and  I  know  my 
mother  had  considerable  trouble  that  day  in 
keeping  my  face  to  the  front.  I  continually 


MARIA  SANFORD  23 

turned  to  stare  at  these  black  faces ;  and  finally 
I  whispered  to  mother,  "Why  don't  they  wash 
themselves  before  they  come  to  church!" 
And  I  seemed  to  cling  to  this  idea  as  to  the 
cause  of  their  being  black.  When  I  was  six 
years  old,  one  cold  night'  my  mother  took  me 
with  her  to  carry  some  things  to  a  poor  colored 
family  that  lived  in  a  windmill.  There  was  a 
pair  of  twins  about  a  year  old  and  now  a  new 
baby  of  two  or  three  days.  They  told  me  that 
they  would  give  me  the  little  one.  When  we 
came  to  leave  I  insisted  on  taking  it.  I  was 
usually  an  obedient  child,  but  I  remember 
that  I  cried  heartily  because  mother  wouldn't 
allow  me  to  take  the  baby.  As  we  were  going 
home  mother  asked  me  why  I  was  so  naughty; 
and  I  said  plaintively,  "But,  mother,  why 
didn't  you  take  the  baby,  and  then  it  wouldn't 
be  black?"  She  asked  me  what  I  thought  made 
it  black;  and  I  said,  "Why,  they  handle  it  with 
their  dirty  hands."  It  was  not  so  much  that 
I  wanted  the  baby,  but  I  wanted  to  save  it 
from  future  misfortune. 

Religious  prejudices  in  those  days  were 
very  strong,  and  the  different  Protestant  de- 
nominations kept  themselves  a  good  deal 
apart.  At  my  earliest  recollection  almost  all 
the  people  in  our  vicinity  were  Congregation- 


24  MARIA  SANFOED 

alists.  There  were  a  very  few  Episcopalians. 
My  father  and  mother  were  counted  very  lib- 
eral, and  united  cordially  with  other  denom- 
inations. With  the  Irish  came  in  the  Catho- 
lics and  after  them  the  Methodists  and  Bap- 
tists. 

I  think  it  must  have  been  about  1844  that  a 
Universalist  preacher  first  came  to  our  town 
for  a  single  service.  Among  the  very  few 
that  went  to  hear  him  was  a  rich,  retired  sea 
captain,  a  wicked  old  sinner.  As  he  was  go- 
ing home  he  was  overheard  saying  to  himself 
solemnly:  " Blessed  doctrine!  Blessed  doc- 
trine! If  I  could  only  believe  it."  I  remem- 
ber when  I  was  about  seven  years  old  I 
chanced  to  pass  the  Episcopal  church,  lighted 
up  for  Christmas  Eve  services,  and  I  looked 
upon  it  with  a  feeling  of  horror,  much  as  a 
child  of  today  would  look  upon  a  gambling- 
hell  if  the  door  had  been  opened.  I  had  not 
been  taught  this.  It  was  the  reflection  of  a 
common  prejudice.  The  fires  of  religious 
war  and  persecution  had  burned  out,  but  the 
embers  still  smoldered.  How  grateful  we 
should  be  for  the  unity  with  which  we  can  join 
hands  in  any  good  work  with  all  who,  under 
whatever  name,  are  serving  the  Master ! 

I  was  four  years  old  when  I  began  to  go  to 


MARIA  SANFOED  25 

school.  There  was  a  low  bench  around  the 
stove  for  the  little  children  and  a  high  bench 
with  a  slanting  board  behind  it  for  the  older 
ones.  This  counter  was  cut  up  in  various 
hieroglyphics,  initials  and  pictures  of  many 
kinds.  I  remember  that  two  girls,  in  an  idle 
hour,  dug  a  grave  in  the  counter  and  buried  a 
fly  with  the  customary  funeral  services. 
There  was  no  singing  in  the  school.  There 
was  no  mental  arithmetic,  no  literature,  and 
no  history.  And  if  we  chanced  to  draw  a  pic- 
ture on  our  slates  we  were  severely  reproved. 
We  read  round  in  turn  from  the  New  Testa- 
ment; and  the  few  fanatics  who  now  advocate 
the  reading  of  the  Bible  in  school  would  be 
cured  of  the  notion  if  they  could  but  hear  one 
day's  blunders  as  I  remember  them.  A  friend 
of  mine  bears  testimony  to  this  experience. 
The  children  were  reading  the  seventeenth 
chapter  of  Matthew,  the  story  of  the  Trans- 
figuration; and  one  boy  instead  of  reading, 
"And  when  the  disciples  heard  it  they  fell  on 
their  faces  and  were  sore  afraid,  read,  "and 
were  sore  afterward." 

I  have  two  vivid  recollections  of  this  school 
term  when  I  was  four  years  old.  One  is  that  the 
teacher,  anxious  to  make  us  acquainted  with 
useful  facts,  crowded  into  our  heads  long  lists 


26  MARIA  SANFORD 

of  names  of  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  United 
States,  which  I  can  reel  off  today,  mispronun- 
ciation and  all,  just  as  I  learned  them.  Use- 
less lumber  to  give  a  child  to  keep  in  the  brain 
for  fourscore  years! 

The  other  vivid  recollection  of  my  first  term 
at  school  was  a  thunderstorm.  It  was  at  the 
end  of  two  weeks  of  August  rain;  and  on  that 
particular  morning  "they  didn't  sift  it  at  all, 
just  poured  it  down  by  the  bucketful."  For 
an  hour  the  thunder  and  lightning  had  been 
very  severe,  and  the  teacher  had  allowed  us  to 
keep  our  aprons  over  o*ur  faces;  but  just  as 
she  said,  "I  think  it's  over  now,  and  you  can 
put  down  your  aprons,"  there  came  a  crash- 
ing bolt,  and  the  whole  schoolhouse  seemed  to 
go  up  in  flame.  The  lightning  had  really 
struck  a  haycock  about  ten  feet  from  the 
schoolhouse.  Why  it  didn't  strike  the  build- 
ing I  have  never  known.  There  was  more 
than  one  child  who  insisted  the  next  morning: 
"The  schoolhouse  has  burned  down.  I  saw 
it  afire."  We  rushed  out,  teacher  and  all. 
The  street  was  flooded  with  water.  There  was 
a  shallow  ditch,  and  I  waded  to  my  waist  in 
crossing  it.  We  took  refuge  in  the  house  of 
the  nearest  neighbor. 

One  boy,  who  lived  on  the  hill  behind  the 


MARIA  SANFORD  27 

schoolhouse,  started  to  go  home.  His  father 
was  a  drunkard,  and  my  mother  had  been  to 
their  house  many  a  time  on  errands  of  mercy, 
so  that  the  boy  knew  her.  When  he  was  part 
way  home  he  was  too  terrified  to  proceed,  but 
turned  around  and  came  down  to  our  back 
door.  The  rain  had  now  stopped,  but  he  was 
wet  to  the  skin.  When  he  said  to  my  mother, 
"The  schoolhouse  is  struck,  and  it  struck  me 
once,"  of  course  my  mother  was  alarmed.  It 
was  almost  noon;  and  father  came  in  soon  to 
his  dinner  and  went  up  at  once  to  see  what  had 
become  of  his  little  girls.  I  think  he  was  very 
much  relieved  to  find  us  safe  in  the  house  of 
the  neighbor,  for  I  remember  that  his  right 
arm  pressed  me  close  to  his  breast  as  he  car- 
ried me  home.  My  next  sister  was  holding 
his  left  hand,  and  the  oldest  clinging  to  his 
coat  on  the  right.  To  me  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  sights  is  a  father  caring  tenderly  for 
his  little  daughters;  I  think  perhaps  because 
the  scene  is  tangled  up  in  my  mind  with  such 
precious  memories. 

The  influence  of  that  storm  with  me  was  last- 
ing. None  of  my  family  was  afraid  of  thunder 
and  lightning.  Even  in  the  next  generation,  my 
sister's  children  were  entirely  free  from  this 
fear.  I  remember  when  my  little  niece  and 


28  MARIA  SANFOBD 

nephew  of  five  and  three  years  of  age  were 
alone  upstairs  in  a  severe  storm,  I  went  up 
thinking  they  must  be  afraid.  Just  before  I 
reached  them  there  was  a  terrific  bolt,  and  the 
little  girl  clapped  her  hands  and  said :  ' '  That 's 
a  good  one!  Give  us  another."  But  no  such 
courage  for  me.  All  through  my  childhood  the 
very  appearance  of  thunderheads  would  make 
me  quake  and  even  cause  actual  nausea.  It  was 
not  until  I  was  a  teacher  and  responsible  for 
the  impression  made  on  children  that  I  was 
able  to  conquer  this  unreasoning  fear,  and  I 
admit  that  even  now  I  don't  enjoy  a  thunder- 
storm at  night ;  so  powerful  are  the  impressions 
of  childhood.  In  this  case,  of  course,  it  was 
accidental ;  but  many  parents  are  careless  of  the 
influence  of  fear  upon  their  children.  Someone 
told  a  little  cousin  of  mine  a  blood  curdling 
ghost  story;  and  he  went  to  school  next  day 
and  picked  out  with  a  pin  every  place  in  his 
Testament  where  Holy  Ghost  occurred.  He 
would  have  no  ghosts  in  his  book. 

Going  back  to  the  schools  of  my  childhood. 
In  summer  we  had  women  teachers  and  in  win- 
ter men,  because  it  was  thought  that  women 
couldn't  control  the  big  boys;  and  in  the  brutal 
system  of  school  government  then  prevailing, 
physical  strength  was  an  important  matter. 


MARIA  SANFOED  29 

There  were  often  twelve  or  fifteen  boys  of 
man's  stature;  and  in  some  schools  it  was  a 
favorite  amusement  to  turn  out  the  teacher. 

I  remember,  when  I  was  about  twelve  years 
of  age,  in  a  neighboring  town  five  men  in  suc- 
cession had  been  turned  out ;  and  the  committee 
was  in  despair,  when  one  man  suggested  that 
he  knew  a  woman  wTho  could  manage  that 
school.  The  committee  in  despair  concluded  to 
take  her.  The  boys  thought  it  was  a  lark  and 
had  things  all  planned  out.  When  they  went 
out  at  recess  they  were  going  to  assemble  on  a 
rock  at  the  rear  of  the  schoolhouse,  and  when 
she  knocked  on  the  window  for  them  to  come  in 
(there  were  no  bells  in  those  days)  they  would 
stand  up  and  glare  at  her,  then  go  in  and  put 
her  out.  One  boy  by  the  name  of  Jim  was  to 
give  them  the  signal.  The  teacher  came  and 
knocked;  but  Jim,  instead  of  standing  up, 
meekly  slid  down  over  the  rock  and  went  in, 
and  the  others  followed  him  and  carried  out 
the  work  of  the  morning  in  an  orderly  manner. 
At  noon  the  boys  said  to  him:  "Jim,  what 
made  you  go  in  ? "  He  answered :  *  '  Golly !  Did 
you  see  her  eyes  ?  "  In  man  or  woman  it  is  the 
consciousness  of  mastery  which  gives  success. 

The  prejudice  that  believed  women  could  not 
control  older  boys  has  passed  away;  but  we 


30  MARIA  SANFOBD 

still  retain  the  prejudice  that  a  man  teacher  is 
necessary  for  the  dignity  of  a  school.  I  admit 
that  the  influence  of  both  men  and  women  is 
desirable  in  the  formation  of  the  character  of 
the  young.  But  when  people  put  inexperienced, 
callow  youths  in  positions  of  importance  in 
schools  or  colleges  simply  because  they  are 
"lords  of  creation",  and  pay  them  twice  as 
much  as  is  given  to  the  really  valuable  women 
whose  power  alone  keeps  the  man  in  his  place 
and  the  school  running,  then  there  is  a  call  for 
reform.  And  we  do  not  have  to  go  to  the  coast 
of  either  ocean  to  find  instances  of  this  kind. 
There  are  some  men  in  the  teaching  profession 
whose  work  is  of  inestimable  value ;  but  we  all 
know  that  this  profession  does  not  appeal  to 
many  men  of  power.  The  thing  we  need  to 
guard  against  is  that  we  do  not  in  these  days 
let  the  really  priceless  women  who  are  in  the 
profession  leave  it  for  want  of  proper  pay. 

By  far  the  most  valuable  educational  influ- 
ence of  my  childhood  came  from  my  mother.  I 
remember  when  I  was  not  yet  four  years  old 
following  her  about  in  her  work,  begging  her 
to  tell  me  more  about  the  war.  Her  uncle  had 
been  a  colonel  in  the  Revolutionary  War  and 
had  died  on  the  prison  ship.  Behind  my  grand- 
father 's  house  was  a  beacon  hill  on  which  a  tar 


MARIA  SANFORD  31 

barrel  was  kept  to  be  set  on  fire  when  the  enemy 
landed;  a  signal,  to  another  beacon  hill  in  the 
distance,  of  approaching  danger,  the  telegraph 
system  of  those  days. 

Long  before  I  was  ten  years  of  age  I  had  in 
mind  a  gallery  of  worthies,  embracing  not  only 
our  Revolutionary  heroes  and  men  like  Hamil- 
ton and  Marshall  and  Henry  Clay,  but  old  world 
worthies:  Oliver  Cromwell,  John  Hampden, 
Alfred  the  Great,  Gustavus  Adolphus,  and 
Charlemagne.  I  knew  and  delighted  in  the 
character  and  deeds  of  these  men.  My  mother 
realized  the  value  of  the  word  "service"  in  its 
modern  application ;  and  she  taught  us  the  value 
of  time,  and  sought  to  inspire  us  to  worthy  lives 
by  keeping  before  us  the  achievements  of  such 
women  as  Hannah  More,  Elizabeth  Fry  and 
Mary  Somerville,  and  in  this  country  of  Mary 
Lyon,  and  later  of  Susan  B.  Anthony  and  Abby 
Foster  and  Lucretia  Mott.  And  to  my  mother 
I  am  indebted  for  my  love  of  literature.  I  can 
remember,  when  I  still  slept  in  the  trundle  bed, 
waking  before  light  in  the  morning  and  asking 
if  it  wasn't  almost  time  to  get  up.  And  mother 
would  answer,  "Say  over  your  verses."  It 
would  take  me  at  least  half  an  hour  to  go  over 
the  list.  I  began  with  the  long  cradle  hymn  of 
Watts: 


32  MARIA  SANFOBD 


Hush,  my  babe,  lie  still  and  slumber, 
Holy  angels  guard  thy  bed. 


and 


When'er  I  take  my  walks  abroad. 

How  many  poor  I  see. 
What  shall  I  render  to  my  God 

For  all  His  gifts  to  me? 

And  I  remember  with  great  delight  I  used  to 
say  over  those  glorious  lines,  still  in  our  hymn 
books : 

Brightest  and  best  of  the  sons  of  the  morning, 
Dawn  on  our  darkness  and  lend  us  thine  aid. 

Star  of  the  East,  the  horizon  adorning, 

Guide  where  our  infant  Redeemer  is  laid. 

and  the  remaining  stanzas  of  that  noble  hymn.  I 
do  not  suppose  a  child  of  five  or  six  years  could 
comprehend  the  beauty  of  this  grand  poetry, 
but  I  know  that  some  of  its  music  entered  my 
soul,  and  its  inspiration  also.  And  I  know  that 
this  training  not  only  made  me  familiar  with 
poetic  diction  and  poetic  imagery,  but  that  this 
and  my  familiarity  with  the  Holy  Scriptures 
formed  my  literary  taste. 

I  read  and  studied  the  Bible;  chapter  after 
chapter  I  could  repeat  entire.  And  I  am  very 
sure  that  when  I  was  twelve  years  old  no  one 


MARY   CLARK   SANFORD 
Maria   Sanford's   Mother 


MAEIA  SANFOBD  33 

could  have  made  a  mistake  in  quoting  a  pas- 
sage from  the  early  books  of  the  Bible  all 
through  Kings  and  including  Job,  the  Psalms 
and  Proverbs  and  most  of  the  New  Testament — 
no  one,  I  say,  could  have  misquoted,  and  I 
should  not  have  recognized  the  error.  This  ac- 
quaintance with  the  exquisite  diction  and  glo- 
rious imagery  of  King  James '  version  has  been 
to  me  of  unspeakable  value,  not  only  in  the 
strengthening  of  character  but  in  the  formation 
of  literary  taste.  This  love  for  the  grand  old 
diction  makes  me  impatient  with  the  weaker 
forms  of  the  Revised  Version,  which  may  be 
sometimes  a  little  plainer,  but  has  so  often  lost 
the  noble  imagery  and  poetic  rythm  of  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures. 

My  mother  took  for  her  motto  in  the  training 
of  her  children  the  saying  of  some  distinguished 
man:  "Fill  the  measure  with  wheat  and  there* 
will  be  no  room  for  the  chaff."  I  have  often  in 
later  years  recommended  to  mothers  that  they 
follow  her  example  in  teaching  their  children, 
instead  of  senseless  jingles,  noble  poems  which 
will  be  priceless  seed  grain  in  the  mind  of  the 
child,  bearing  rich  harvest  in  later  years.  I 
once  gave  this  talk  in  a  <place  where  I  was  well 
acquainted,  and  after  the  lecture  a  woman 
whom  I  knew  came  to  me  and  said :  "But,  Miss 

3 


34  MARIA  SANFORD 

Sanford,  I  haven't  time."  I  knew  that  her  lit- 
tle daughter  had  dainty  embroidered  dresses 
for  summer,  and  rich,  warm,  soft  ones  for  win- 
ter ;  and  wraps  and  garments  for  every  season 
and  every  need,  and  I  thought :  "So  much  time 
foT  the  body  that  perishes  and  no  time  for  the 
immortal  soul  which  starves  in  darkness,  mak- 
ing no  moan. ' ' 

I  have  said  that  my  parents  were  religious, 
and  I  should  say  something  of  the  religious 
training  of  my  childhood.  While  my  parents 
would  have  been  shocked  at  the  idea  of  a  base- 
ball game  or  a  theatrical  performance  on  Sun- 
day, the  day  was  never,  in  our  home,  kept  in 
that  strict,  dreadful  fashion  that  too  often 
prevailed  in  those  days,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
little  girl  whose  playthings  were  all  put  away 
Saturday  night,  and  who  was  allowed,  after 
sundown  on  Sunday,  to  go  to  walk  in  the 
graveyard.  She  heard  someone  say  that  heaven 
was  an  eternal  Sunday.  She  came  to  her  mother 
in  distress  and  said:  "Mama,  don't  you  think, 
if  I  am  real  good  all  the  week,  God  will  let  me  go 
down  to  hell  Saturday  afternoon  and  have  a 
good  time?" 

The  schools,  when  I*  was  young,  had  only  a 
half  holiday  on  Saturday.  Sunday  was  never 
dreaded  by  me,  except  the  hours  spent  in 


MAEIA  SANFOED  35 

church.  I  set  myself  the  stint  to  read  ten 
chapters  in  the  Bible  on  Sunday,  and  often 
exceeded  that  number,  but  I  didn't  keep  still. 
I  remember  once  my  father  offering  me  fifty 
cents,  if  I  would  keep  still  half  an  hour.  It 
was  a  great  prize.  I  think  up  to  that  time  I 
had  never  had  so  large  a  sum  of  money,  but  I 
didn't  get  it.  So  sitting  still  in  church  or 
prayer  meeting  was  a  terror  to  me.  After  a 
little  while  I  thought  my  stomach,  went  round 
and  round.  I  now  know  it  was  a  nervous  sen- 
sation caused  by  enforced  quiet  upon  a  very 
active  child.  It  was  a  great  blessing  to  me 
that  when  I  was  nine  years  of  age  my  little 
brother  came.  Somebody  must  stay  at  home 
with  the  baby;  and  though  I  admit  I  was  a 
little  timid — for  there  was  nothing  but  the  flies 
and  the  chickens,  both  of  which  I  thought  sung 
a  different  song  on  Sundays  from  other  days, 
and  an  occasional  dog  that  passed,  but  I  was 
afraid  of  dogs — I  preferred  staying  alone 
with  the  baby  to  sitting  still  in  church. 

Religion  was  never  a  sad  and  doleful  thing 
in  our  household.  We  were  taught  to  love 
our  Heavenly  Father.  Two  incidents  illus- 
trating this  are  especially  prominent  in  my 
mind.  One  was  when  my  oldest  sister  was 
about  sixteen  and  had  a  little  party.  All 


36  MAKIA  SANFORD 

along  our  childhood,  father  and  mother  en- 
tered into  our  plays.  Even  when  we  were 
little  things  and  played  "I  spy  the  thimble," 
father  would  sit  like  a  graven  image,  holding 
up  his  newspaper  to  see  nothing  while  we  hid 
the  thimble  in  his  coat  collar  or  his  ear.  And 
mother  was  never  too  tired  or  too  busy  to 
rummage  the  garret  for  things  that  would  help 
us  in  our  play.  On  this  particular  evening  we 
had  had  charades  and  other  "dress-up 
games,"  and  father  and  mother  had  been  in  it 
as  much  as  any  of  us,  and  the  time  had  passed 
in  great  glee.  At  ten  o'clock,  when  the  neigh- 
bor young  folks  had  gone,  we  sat  around  the 
stove  talking  it  over  and  laughing  as  we  re- 
membered how  funny  this  and  how  bright  that 
was.  When  father  said  "Let  us  kneel  down 
and  thank  our  Heavenly  Father  for  these 
pleasures" — it  was  not  his  custom  to  have 
evening  prayer,  he  always  had  morning 
prayer — we  knelt  down  and  he  voiced  our 
gratitude  to  God  for  the  fun  and  frolic  that 
had  made  our  home  bright.  If  we  teach  our 
children  to  thank  God  for  their  pleasures, 
they  will  not  be  likely  to  seek  amusements  on 
which  they  cannot  ask  His  blessing. 

The  other  instance  was  when  I  was  quite  a 
little  girl.     There  were  UQ  prphjan  asylums  in 


37 


those  days,  and  children  left  without  protec- 
tors were  bound  by  the  selectmen  to  some 
family  who  gave  them  support  and  schooling 
for  which  they  gave  service  until  they  were 
eighteen.  A  little  bound  girl  lived  some  dis- 
tance below  us.  It  was  rumored  that  she  had 
not  been  kindly  treated ;  and  one  night  in  early 
autumn,  just  before  it  was  time  for  us  to  go  to 
bed,  a  man  came  by  telling  the  story  that  the 
people  had  accused  this  girl  of  stealing  a 
brooch  (they  afterwards  found  that  she  had 
not  stolen  it).  They  had  whipped  her  all  they 
dared,  then  they  had  kept  her  in  the  cellar  on 
bread  and  water;  but  she  insisted  that  she 
didn't  know  where  it  was.  And  at  last  they 
had  hung  her  in  the  well,  thinking  to  frighten 
her  into  confession.  Her  screams  brought 
the  neighbors  and  relief.  This  story  was  very 
exciting  to  little  children;  and  when,  soon 
after,  mother  put  us  to  bed  after  hearing  us 
say  our  prayers,  and  kissed  us  good  night  and 
left  us,  we  talked  it  over  and  began  to  cry,  and 
called  mother.  She  told  us  that  we  needn't 
be  afraid,  that  we  had  father  and  mother  to 
take  care  of  us;  and  we  were  pacified  for  the 
moment.  But  we  soon  called  her  back,  and  a 
third  time.  Then  I  remember  she  sat  down 
on  our  bed,  and  I  can  hear  her  voice  as  if  it 


38  MARIA  SANFORD 

were  but  yesterday  as  she  softly  said:  "I 
can't  be  with  you  all  the  time,  and  your  father 
can't  be  with  you  all  the  time,  but  your  heav- 
enly Father  is  always  near.  Now  say  over 
after  me,  '  Thou  wilt  keep  him  in  perfect  peace 
whose  mind  is  stayed  on  Thee;  because  he 
trusteth  in  Thee. '  And  she  had  us  say  it  over 
and  over  until  we  could  say  it  alone ;  and  then 
she  said,  "Now  keep  saying  it  until  you  go  to 
sleep."  And  so  we  did,  and  fell  sweetly  asleep, 
trusting  in  the  care  of  the  Heavenly  Father. 

It  was  a  little  old  brown  house,  and  the 
furniture  was  very  plain;  but  not  to  have 
toddled  about  in  a  palace  and  inherited  mil- 
lions would  I  sacrifice  those  precious  memo- 
ries of  a  Christian  home. 

We  were  by  no  means  prize  model  children, 
but  a  somewhat  harum-scarum  lot.  We  par- 
took much  more  of  the  energy  of  our  father 
than  of  the  quiet  grace  of  our  mother.  I  re- 
member my  mother's  telling  of  a  reproof  her 
father  gave  her.  She  was  visiting  at  home 
when  her  three  little  girls  were  small.  Her 
father's  big  house  had  been  remodeled  so  that 
her  brother  with  his  family  of  seven  children 
lived  in  half  of  it.  Grandmother  was  very 
fond  of  children  and  always  had  in  her  pantry 


MARIA  SANFORD  39 

something  nice,  a  piece  of  pie,  cookies  or  candy 
to  give  them.  Sometimes  the  children  from 
the  other  part  of  the  house  would  slip  into  the 
pantry  and  help  themselves.  Grandfather 
said  to  mother:  "Mary,  your  children  are 
perfectly  honest.  Not  one  of  them  would  take 
a  thing  out  of  grandmother's  pantry  without 
permission  any  more  than  she  would  cut  off 
her  right  hand.  But  not  one  of  them  can  go 
through  that  door  without  hitting  both  sides." 
My  earliest  connection  with  the  temperance 
society  was  when  I  was  four  or  five  years  old. 
An  organization  called  "The  Cold  Water 
Army"  extended  throughout  New  England 
and  probably  other  states.  All  the  boys  and 
girls  were  urged  to  join  this  organization. 
We  had  meetings  and  parades.  Every  mem- 
ber had  a  paper  diploma  about  a  foot  square 
on  which  was  printed  our  pledge  and  several 
songs.  I  remember  the  first  verse  of  one  was : 

We  cold  water  girls  and  boys 
Freely  renounce  the  dangerous  joys 
Of  brandy,  whiskey,  rum  and  gin, 
The  serpent's  lure  to  death  and  sin. 

People   at  that   time   were   very  hopeful   of 
speedily  crushing  intemperance.    My  mother 


40  MARIA  SANFORD 

said  she  expected  that  when  her  children  were 
grown  it  would  be  a  thing  of  the  past.  She 
little  thought  that  her  youngest  daughter 
would  be  over  fourscore  years  old  before  the 
sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  would  be  made 
illegal  in  our  country,  and  that  even  then  the 
fight  for  temperance  must  still  go  on. 

In  the  fall  before  I  was  six  years  of  age  my 
father  moved  his  family  back  to  Saybrook; 
and  for  four  years  he  took  charge  of  the  farm 
of  his  uncle,  George  Chapman,  and  we  lived  in 
the  old  Chapman  homestead,  built  by  my 
great-grandfather,  to  which  was  attached,  as 
a  summer  kitchen,  the  first  frame  house  built 
in  Saybrook.  The  farm  had  been  in  the  hands 
of  renters  and  was  much  run  down ;  but  father 
was  interested  in  it  as  if  it  were  his  own,  and 
did  much  to  build  it  up.  My  sister  and  I  used 
to  help  on  the  farm.  We  dropped  corn  and 
potatoes  in  the  spring,  and  picked  up  potatoes 
in  the  fall,  and  husked  corn ;  and  by  this  means 
earned  a  little  money  to  buy  our  clothes.  It 
was  helpful  and  not  hard  work. 

In  those  years,  too,  I  remember  I  used  to  pick 
huckleberries.  The  huckleberry  fields  were  two 
miles  and  a  half  from  my  home,  and  sometimes 
a  lot  of  little  girls  used  to  go  together.  But 
although  I  was  a  little  lonesome  I  preferred  to 


MARIA  SANFORD  41 

go  alone  because  then  I  stuck  to  my  job  and  filled 
my  pail.  I  sold  the  berries  to  my  grandmother 
and  aunts ;  and  bought  in  this  way,  more  than 
once,  my  winter  dress.  It  was  while  we  were 
here  on  the  farm  that  my  father  finished  pay- 
ing off  the  debt  he  had  carried,  and  easier 
times  dawned  for  us.  It  was  here  also  that 
my  only  brother  was  born.  This  home  was 
half  a  mile  distant  from  my  grandfather 
Clark's;  and  though  as  farmers  my  parents 
rose  early,  I  used  frequently  to  go  up  to  my 
grandfather's  and  back  before  breakfast. 
Grandfather  used  to  say:  "That  child  will 
get  over  that  when  she  is  big  enough  to  be 
good  for  anything. ' '  But  I  never  did  get  over 
it;  and  I  am  as  fond  of  rising  early  now  as  I 
was  then. 

One  more  trivial  incident  of  that  earliest 
home  perhaps  I  should  recall.  It  is  my  hav- 
ing measles.  My  uncle  Elias,  my  father's 
younger  half-brother,  boarded  with  us  for 
some  months.  He  was  very  fond  of  me  and 
used  to  hold  me  in  his  lap.  He  thought  he 
was  immune  because  he  had  had  the  disease  in 
childhood.  But  several  members  of  my  fam- 
ily, including  myself,  seemed  to  require  two 
doses;  and  he  took  the  disease  a  second  time 


42  MAEIA  SANFOED 

from  me.  One  day  while  I  was  confined  to 
the  house  a  crazy  woman  came.  Mother  had 
often  been  kind  to  her  and  taken  her  in. 
There  were  no  hospitals  for  the  insane  in 
those  days,  and  crazy  people  wandered  the 
streets  unless  some  member  of  their  family 
could  take  care  of  them.  I  strayed  out  of  the 
house  and  down  to  the  brook;  and  when 
mother  called  me  and  asked  me  why  I  went 
away,  I  said  I  didn't  like  to  hear  Becky  Wil- 
liams talk.  It  is  pitiful  to  think  what  those 
poor  creatures  suffered  in  those  days.  In  a 
house  not  a  mile  below  ours  a  man,  violently 
insane,  was  shut  into  a  room  in  a  part  of  the 
barn  by  big  posts,  one  of  which  he  once  sawed 
in  two  with  a  comb  and  thus  escaped.  An- 
other prominent  family,  where  there  was  an 
old  woman  mildly  insane  but  not  fit  to  live 
with  the  rest  of  the  family,  kept  her  in  a  room 
where  she  ate  and  slept.  One  day  they 
smelled  fire  and  traced  it  to  her  room.  They 
went  in  and  found  the  room  full  of  smoke,  and 
she  was  in  bed.  They  said,  "Why,  aunt 
Nabby,  the  house  is  on  fire." 

"Yes,"  she  said,  "I  know  it,  but  I  poured 
on  all  the  water  there  was  in  the  teakettle." 

It  has  seemed  to  me  that  Nabby 's  philosophy 
.is  much  the  way  that  many  people  attack 


MARIA  SANFORD  43 

abuses  that  should  be  corrected.  Instead  of 
taking  the  trouble  to  go  to  the  root  of  the  evil 
and  ferret  it  out  they  do  the  easy,  handy  thing, 
"pour  on  all  the  water  there  is  in  the  tea- 
kettle" and  then  go  to  bed. 


CHAPTER  II. 
A  CONNECTICUT  YANKEE. 

The  Sanford  Association  of  America  trace 
a  great  branch  of  the  Sanford  family  to  Thomas 
Sanford,  who  came  to  Milford,  Connecticut, 
about  1639,  and  died  there  in  1681.  The  family 
has  been  proud  of  its  lineage,  and  holds  re- 
unions to  keep  alive  family  interest  and  ac- 
quaintance. 

Maria  Sanford 's  ancestors  lived,  as  far  back 
as  1646,  in  that  part  of  Connecticut  where  Rob- 
ert Chapman  was  given  a  grant  of  land  in  what 
later  became  the  town  of  Saybrook.  This  land 
has  always  remained  in  the  family;  a  Robert 
Chapman  now  living  on  the  historic  site.  Maria 
Sanford 's  grandmother  Lucretia  was  born  on 
the  estate  and  was  married  in  1797  to  Samuel 
Sanford.  The  third  of  their  seven  children  was 
Henry  Elisha  Sanford,  born  in  1802. 

Captain  Elisha  Chapman,  great  grandfather 
of  Maria  Sanford  was  a  soldier  in  the  French 
and  Indian  wars,  and  served  as  Captain 
throughout  the  Revolution.  There  are  many 

44 


MAKIA  SANFOED  45 

interesting  stories  told  of  Mrs.  Chapman's  ex- 
perience during  the  war,  while  her  husband  was 
away  and  she  cared  for  her  large  family  of 
children  and  her  aged  parents.  One  is  that  the 
daughter  Lucretia,  Maria  Sanford's  grand- 
mother, saw  the  great  Lafayette  when  her 
mother  served  him  and  his  aide  a  dinner  at  the 
homestead.  Some  of  the  older  daughters 
assisted,  but  the  little  Lucretia  was  shut  with 
the  other  younger  children  in  an  upper  room 
to  be  out  of  the  way.  So  they  had  to  content 
themselves  with  looking  at  the  great  man  from 
an  upper  window.  Such  a  family  story  could 
not  fail  to  seize  the  imagination  of  the  small 
Maria. 

The  parents  of  Maria  Sanford,  Henry  and 
Mary  Sanford,  had  four  children:  Elizabeth,  the 
oldest,  born  in  1829,  married  Asa  Kirtland  and 
had  seven  children.  She  died  in  1880.  The 
second,  Clarissa,  born  in  1834,  married,  and  left 
at  her  death  in  1870  one  daughter.  The  young- 
est of  the  family,  Rufus,  born  in  1846,  is  the 
only  one  of  the  children  surviving. 

The  third  child  of  the  family,  Maria  Louise, 
was  born  at  Saybrook,  Connecticut,  December 
19,  1836.  Of  her  earliest  childhood  she  remem- 
bered enough  of  the  Christmas  when  she  was 
five  years  old  to  give  a  vivid  picture  scores  of 


46  MAEIA  SANFOKD 

years  later  of  the  loving  care  with  which  her 
mother  made  the  day  a  happy  one  for  the  small 
family.  The  day  before  Christmas  she  made 
little  mince  pies  and  quince  tarts  for  the  chil- 
dren to  give  to  their  young  friends.  The  eager 
Maria  delighted  to  watch  the  marvelous  process 
of  notching  the  edges  of  the  pies,  and  of  cutting 
delicate  strips  of  crust  to  put  across  the  tarts. 
Christmas  eve  the  children  hung  up  their  stock- 
ings and  coaxed  their  father  to  do  likewise.  But 
they  had  to  put  their  wits  to  work  to  fill  it,  for 
he  wore,  according  to  the  custom  of  that  time, 
long  woolen  stockings  that  came  up  over  the 
knee.  When  the  gifts  the  children  had  been 
preparing  under  their  mother's  direction  had 
been  swallowed  up  by  the  stocking,  and  the 
cavernous  opening  was  seemingly  as  great  as 
ever,  the  mother  brought  thin  delicious  dough- 
nuts, beloved  of  their  father,  and  then  promised 
to  put  in  plenty  of  popcorn  balls  and  molasses 
candy.  The  stocking  would  not  fill  up,  and  the 
oldest  sister  thought  of  a  great  red  apple. 
When  she  returned  from  the  cellar  with  that 
she  brought  also  a  huge  potato,  seven  inches 
long,  proposing  to  put  it  in  the  toe.  While  one 
girl  scrubbed  the  potato  and  wrapped  it  in  tis- 
sue paper,  another  carefully  removed  all  the 
things  from  the  stocking,  and  then  put  the 


MARIA  SANFORD  47 

potato  in  first.  As  a  .final  touch,  one  put  a 
carefully  wrapped  wishbone  on  the  top,  and  the 
stocking  was  at  last  filled. 

With  nothing  except  what  had  been  prepared 
at  home,  an  apron,  mittens,  a  rag  doll ;  with  no 
Christmas  tree — they  had  never  heard  of  such 
a  thing — they  enjoyed  all  the  delightful  mystery 
and  pleasure  of  giving  that  heart  could  wish. 
Seventy-five  years  afterward  Maria  remem- 
bered the  preparation  for  that  day.  Such  hap- 
piness in  poverty,  with  simple  pleasures,  had  a 
lifelong  effect  on  her  character. 

For  nine  years  she  was  the  youngest,  and 
was  always  an  alert,  eager,  interested  child. 
She  had  an  adoration  for  her  mother  so  great 
that  when  she  neared  home  on  her  way  from 
school  she  would  run  as  fast  as  she  could,  call- 
ing "Mother,  mother,  where  are  you?"  "When 
the  youngest  child,  a  boy,  was  born,  Maria 
adopted  him  as  her  special  charge,  and  felt  that 
she  had  a  great  new  interest. 

From  earliest  childhood  she  was  accustomed 
to  the  institution  of  family  prayers,  not  only  in 
her  own  home  but  in  the  homes  of  relations  and 
friends.  She  learned  to  repeat  the  Psalms,  and 
had  regular  Bible  study  on  Sunday  afternoons. 
Her  life-long  love  of  the  Bible  proves  that  this 
was  not  made  the  irksome  task  which  many 


48  MARIA  SANFOED 

New  England  children  have  found  it  to  be.  One 
of  the  best  lectures  she  was  giving  in  the  last 
years  of  her  life  was  entitled  Beauties  of  the 
Bible. 

When  Maria  was  ten  years  of  age  the  family 
moved  to  Meriden,  Connecticut,  where  the 
father  worked  for  his  brother.  Up  to  that  time 
Maria  attended  country  school.  When  she 
reached  the  age  of  fourteen  she  began  to  attend 
the  academy  at  Meriden,  walking  three  miles 
daily  to  and  from  school  and  helping  her  mother 
out  of  school  hours  with  the  housework.  As 
the  older  sisters  had  married  soon  after  the 
removal  to  Meriden,  and  gone  to  homes  of  their 
own,  Maria  was  her  mother's  only  helper. 

It  soon  became  apparent  that  the  young  girl 
thirsted  for  an  education.  She  was  always  a 
hard  worker  at  school,  and  had  an  ambition  that 
hated  to  accept  defeat.  At  one  time,  when  the 
teacher  gave  extra  problems  in  arithmetic  to 
be  worked  at  home,  Maria  had  to  return  to 
school  with  one  unsolved.  When  she  learned 
that  no  one  had  been  able  to  work  it,  she  got 
excused  from  school,  returned  home  and  worked 
until  she  had  solved  it.  She  was  the  only  one 
who  mastered  the  difficulty. 

There  was  a  family  saying  that  Maria  wa.s  so 
good  as  a  child  that,  according  to  the  eld  Puri- 


MARIA   SANFORD 
The  Connecticut  Yankee 


MAKIA  SANFORD  49 

tan  belief,  she  could  not  live  to  grow  up.  Her 
singular  unselfishness  was  the  cause  of  an 
amusing  story  which  is  still  told  in  the  family. 
Her  small  brother  had  always  observed  his  sis- 
ter, when  helping  herself  from  a  dish  of  apples, 
reach  for  one  with  decayed  spots,  and  supposed 
she  liked  them  best.  One  day,  therefore,  when 
he  went  to  a  neighbor's  on  an  errand,  and  the 
woman  asked  if  he  thought  his  family  would 
like  some  apples  she  had  which  had  begun  to 
decay,  he  answered  at  once,  "0,  yes,  I  am  sure 
we  can  use  them,  for  Maria  loves  rotten 
apples." 

She  seems  to  have  been  a  healthy  child ;  she 
had  inherited  from  her  father  a  strong  phy- 
sique, and  from  her  mother  high  ideals  From 
the  very  outset  she  was  taught  that  life  was 
given  us  to  use  for  something  worth  while; 
that  it  was  a  precious  gift,  and  that  it  was 
sinful  to  waste  it.  So  lofty  was  the  teaching 
that  it  was  considered  sinful  to  read  novels. 
And  at  the  mature  age  of  eleven  years  the 
young  girl  resolved,  after  realizing  that  she  had 
actually  read  one,  not  to  read  any  more  fiction. 
Her  older  sister  had  had  a  year 's  subscription 
to  the  Boston  Atheneum  given  her,  and  one 
rainy  Saturday  Maria  took  it  to  a  favorite  ref- 
uge in  the  attic  and  read  through  a  continued 

4 


50  MARIA  SANFORD 

story.  After  she  sat  back  to  think  of  it  she  said 
to  herself  "Why,  that  is  nothing  more  nor  .less 
than  a  novel ! ' '  Then  she  made  a  secret  resolve 
to  refrain  from  such  wickedness;  a  resolve 
which  she  kept  until  she  learned  in  normal 
school  that  some  of  the  world's  great  literature 
is  cast  in  the  form  of  narration. 

A  strong  natural  desire  for  reading  was 
stimulated  by  the  study  of  history  and  church 
doctrine.  Her  thirst  for  knowledge  grew  so 
that  by  the  time  she  was  sixteen  she  knew  much 
of  the  world's  history  and  had  acquired  a  love 
for  it  that  remained  one  of  her  greatest  inter- 
ests in  life.  The  mother  had  taught  the  Psalms 
and  other  beautiful  poetry  to  the  children  so 
that  they  had  a  rich  inheritance  even  without 
novels.  It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  as  long  as 
she  lived,  Maria  cared  little  for  this  most  pop- 
ular form  of  literature.  When  the  oldest 
daughter,  on  leaving  home,  received  from  her 
father  her  marriage  portion,  Maria  asked  for 
hers  then  instead  of  waiting  for  it  until  she  was 
ready  to  be  married.  Her  explanation  that  she 
wanted  to  use  the  money  to  go  to  the  New 
Britain  Normal  School  found  favor  with  both 
her  parents.  With  very  little  money,  and  a 
scanty  wardrobe  in  which  a  red  delaine  dress 
was  the  most  elegant  item,  the  strong-hearted 


MAEIA  SANFORD  51 

young  girl  set  forth  upon  her  first  journey  away 
from  home.  The  New  Britain  Normal  School 
was  a  co-educational  institution  with  pleasant 
social  relationships,  but  Maria  Sanford  was 
studying  too  hard  all  the  time  she  was  there 
to  reap  the  benefits  of  them.  She  once  let 
several  weeks  go  by  without  writing  home ;  and 
when  her  father  sent  an  anxious  letter,  she  got 
up  at  four  o'clock  to  answer  it.  He  replied 
that  she  needn't  mind  writing  often  if  she  had 
to  get  up  before  daylight  to  do  it.  So  unremit- 
tingly did  she  work  that  she  completed  the 
course  with  honors,  graduating  in  1855,  at  the 
age  of  nineteen. 

At  her  graduation  she  wrote  an  essay  enti- 
tled What  of  the  Future?  the  opening  words 
and  the  climax  of  which  she  remembered  word 
for  word  when  she  was  eighty  years  old.  She 
always  regarded  them  with  approval.  The 
essay  began,  "The  future  lies  before  us  and  we 
can  make  it  what  we  will ;  no  deed,  no  word,  no 
thought  of  ours  but  leaves  its  deathless  record 
there,  and  blots  once  made  can  never  be  ef- 
faced. ' '  The  climax  she  liked  for  its  imperative 
ring.  She  thought  it  was  a  good  motto,  and  said 
it  was  always  easier  for  her  to  follow  an  excla- 
mation point  than  a  question  mark.  The  climax 
was  "Fear  not!  faint  not!  fail  notl" 


52  MARIA  SANFORD 

Some  time  after  her  graduation  from  nor- 
mal school,  the  Honorable  John  D.  Philbrick, 
who  was  principal  at  the  time  she  was  a  student, 
and  afterward  superintendent  of  the  Boston 
public  schools,  said  of  her:  " Maria  Sanford 
had  uncommon  energy  and  vigor,  and  was  con- 
spicuous for  industry,  fidelity  and  earnestness. 
What  her  hands  found  to  do  she  did  with  all 
her  might." 

After  finishing  her  course  at  Normal  School 
she  began  teaching  in  a  country  school  at 
Gilead,  forty  miles  from  home,  at  a  salary  of 
ten  dollars  a  month.  So  shy  and  so  untried 
was  she  in  the  solemn  field  of  teaching  that 
she  took  a  position  as  far  away  as  she  could 
in  order  not  to  be  disgraced  at  home  if  she 
proved  a  failure.  Forty  miles  was  farther  in 
those  days  than  four  hundred  now.  The  first 
year  was  a  bitter  experience  for  her,  because 
she  had  not  learned  to  love  teaching.  She 
said  she  used  to  lie  awake  nights  until  she 
could  tell  the  time  by  the  stars  as  well  as  a 
sailor;  thinking,  wondering,  pondering,  and 
praying  to  be  guided  aright.  She  was  never 
satisfied  with  her  own  work  at  Gilead,  though 
others  did  not  seem  to  think  it  a  failure;  and 
they  hired  her  for  a  second  term.  But  she 
said  there  were  many  times  when,  if  she  could 


MAEIA  SANFOBD  53 

have  found  her  way  to  the  bottom  of  the  neigh- 
boring Atlantic  Ocean  without  the  sin  of  suicide 
on  her  soul,  she  should  have  gone  there.  It 
was  bitter;  but  she  was  learning  her  trade, 
with  no  teacher  but  experience  and  her  own 
conscience. 

Her  first  triumph  came  in  this  school.  One 
day  a  county  superintendent  came  to  visit. 
He  sat  all  the  afternoon  saying  nothing,  and 
when  he  left  said  nothing.  Her  heart  stood 
still.  Later  he  told  her,  "I  have  been  watch- 
ing your  children  all  the  afternoon.  You  said 
nothing.  Each  one  seemed  ito  be  doing  ex- 
actly as  he  wanted  to  do,  and  each  one  wanted 
to  do  right !"  She  said  it  was  the  most  beauti- 
ful compliment  she  had  ever  received. 

The  first  recorded  instance  of  her  noted  love 
of  humor  occurred  in  this  school.  The  chil- 
dren had  a  habit  of  chewing  dried  apples  in 
school  instead  of  the  spruce  gum  of  a  later 
day;  and  just  as  country  school  teachers  of 
the  eighties  forbade  gum  chewing,  this  teacher 
of  the  fifties  forbade  the  chewing  of  dried 
apples.  One  day  she  saw  a  great  boy  sitting 
near  her  desk  working  his  jaws  suspiciously 
and  said,  "  Samuel,  are  you  eating  dried 
apples!" 

"No'm,  lisped  Samuel  with  difficulty,  "I'm 


54  MARIA  SANFORD 

thusth  puttin'  one  to  thoak."  She  treasured 
that  answer  all  her  life. 

After  the  second  year  there  she  improved 
her  condition  and  her  income  by  going  to  Glas- 
tonbury  to  teach  in  the  lower  room  of  a  two 
grade  school.  She  was  progressing  a  little. 
The  next  year  came  still  further  progress,  and 
she  got  a  better  place  nearer  home;  for  she 
wasn't  afraid  of  failure  any  longer.  She  was 
getting  her  feet  under  her  and  slowly  gather- 
ing what  no  human  being  can  afford  to  be 
without  if  he  is  to  be  of  any  use  in  the  world : 
that  is,  self-respect.  She  taught  the  upper 
grades  now,  and  began  to  realize  that  she  must 
develop  her  disciplinary  powers.  She  remem- 
bered long  afterward  James  McGuire,  a  strap- 
ping Irish  boy  of  fifteen.  He  was  bigger  than 
she  and  thought  he  could  defy  her.  One  day 
he  had  refused  to  pick  up  some  corn  he  had 
scattered  on  the  floor.  She  knew  it  was  now 
or  never,  and  with  a  mute  prayer  for  strength 
started  the  first  lesson  in  applied  physical  dis- 
cipline that  she  had  given.  Greatly  to  James 
McGuire 's  surprise,  he  presently  found  him- 
self on  his  back  in  the  hall  with  her  hand  on 
his  collar  and  her  knee  on  his  chest. 

"Will  you  pick  up  that  corn?"  she  said. 


MAKIA  SANFORD  55 

And  he  blubbered  a  choking  reply,  "Y-Y-es, 
ma'am." 

That  was  on  Friday,  and  she  went  home  for 
Saturday  and  Sunday.  When  she  returned 
Monday  morning  she  met  one  of  the  school 
trustees  who  shook  hands  with  her,  laughed 
heartily  and  said,  "I  guess  you'll  do,  young 
lady."  And  after  she  got  to  school  she  over- 
heard one  of  the  boys  saying  to  another: 
"Golly,  but  teacher's  strong."  After  that 
she  had  no  more  trouble  with  unruly  boys. 

She  taught  there  for  a  year  and  then  went 
to  Middlefield,  Connecticut,  for  still  better 
wages.  In  1859  her  father  died  and  Maria's 
first  terrible  grief  for  a  time  prostrated  her. 
His  death  occurred  after  an  illness  of  four 
days  while  the  mother  was  away  from  home. 
He  was  a  man  of  such  sterling  worth  that  his 
loss  was  deeply  felt  in  the  community,  and  the 
eulogy  pronounced  at  the  funeral  was  heart- 
felt and  comforting.  Printed  as  a  memorial, 
it  rings  today  with  the  solemnity  of  great, 
simple  truths.  The  delicate  mother 's  forti- 
tude enabled  her  to  join  in  the  hymn,  which 
according  to  the  custom  of  that  day  was  sung 
by  the  friends  gathered  around  the  grave. 
Her  friends  said  she  was  uplifted  as  she  sang, 
and  seemed  to  be  looking  within  the  veiL  The 


56  MARIA  SANFORD 

memory  of  her  calm  face  came  to  the  storm 
wrecked  Maria  that  evening  when  she  was 
startled  by  the  call  to  supper.  The  shock  of 
realizing  that  the  world  must  go  on  as  before 
brought  to  her  one  of  the  many  times  of  read- 
justment to  the  burdens  of  her  life.  Her 
father  had  taught  her  never  to  sink  under  a 
blow;  her  mother,  always  to  be  cheerful. 

A  passage  from  a  letter  written  by  a  cousin 
of  Miss  Sanford's  gives  a  touch  of  the  home 
life  in  Meriden.  "I  am  thinking  of  yon  in 
your  room  in  the  home  at  Meriden  writing  a 
dialogue  for  the  pupils,  and  reciting  snatches 
of  prose  and  poetry,  giving  me  a  pleasant  Sun- 
day home  while  I  was  teaching  in  Yalesville. 
I  am  afraid  I  did  not  thoroughly  appreciate 
then  my  good  fortune  to  know  you  and  your 
saintly  and  sainted  father  and  mother  so  inti- 
mately, but  I  have  looked  back  on  those  days 
many  times  since  with  thankfulness  and  ap- 
preciation." 

The  home  was  broken  up  for  a  time,  while 
the  mother  went  to  live  with  the  oldest  mar- 
ried sister,  and  the  young  brother  returned 
with  Maria  to  Middlefield.  She  had  as  assist- 
ant a  young  woman  who  had  been  with  her  in 
normal  school  in  New  Britain;  and  she  had 
the  distinction  of  teaching  in  what  was  for 


MARIA  SANFORD  57 

those  days  a  very  fine  new  school  building,  a 
model  very  much  in  advance  of  those  around 
it.  Instead  of  the  one  room  school  with  the  old 
wood  stove  in  front  of  the  teacher's  desk,  this 
school-house  had  a  recitation  room  provided 
with  a  large  library.  Both  the  heating  and 
the  ventilating  were  something  very  modern; 
the  latter  was  effected  by  large  ventilators  in 
the  roof  which  were  connected  with  flues  that 
took  out  either  warm  or  cold  air  from  the 
room.  The  heating  system  was  so  arranged 
that  pure  air  from  the  outside  was  brought  in- 
to the  room  over  coils  around  a  large  box 
stove.  Maria  Sanford  had  a  lifelong  hobby 
for  fresh  air.  She  was  liable  to  feel  stifled 
where  others  felt  comfortable. 

At  this  time  she  was  a  slender  young 
woman,  considerably  above  medium  height 
and  of  somewhat  florid  complexion,  and  a 
quiet,  grave  voice.  She  was  very  dignified, 
thoroughly  in  earnest,  and  appreciated  the 
responsibilities  of  her  position  as  a  teacher. 
Teaching  did  not  by  any  means  fill  all  her  time. 
Even  then  she  was  a  great  walker  but  her 
walks  invariably  had  an  objective.  On  one 
occasion  she  and  her  assistant  walked  nine 
miles  from  Middlefield  to  Yalesville  where  the 
mother  was  living;  upon  their  arrival  Maria, 


58  MARIA  SANFORD 

without  sitting  down  to  rest,  set  to  work  iron- 
ing a  large  basket  of  clothes,  and  kept  at  it 
until  the  ironing  was  all  done. 

The  small  daughters  of  the  widowed  sister 
who  lived  with  the  mother  the  three  years 
while  Miss  Sanford  was  in  Middlefield,  used 
to  run  away  at  first  when  their  Aunt  Maria 
returned  for  week  ends  and  holidays,  merely 
because  her  energy  was  so  great  that  her  rapid 
movements  frightened  them.  She  was  very 
kind  to  them,  but  she  was  so  different  from 
their  quiet,  gentle  mother  and  their  grand- 
mother that  she  had  to  work  to  gain  their  con- 
fidence. Her  own  confidence  and  self  poise 
had  come  with  success  in  her  work,  and  with 
the  responsibility  of  supporting  her  frail  mother 
and  delicate  young  brother. 

Her  unusual  superiority  of  mind  and  per- 
son were  so  evident  that  they  attracted  a  young 
man  teaching  at  that  time  in  Yalesville.  The 
attraction  became  mutual;  when  Miss  Sanford 
went  to  New  Haven  to  teach  and  made  a  home 
there  for  her  mother  and  brother  the  young 
people  became  engaged.  The  following  ac- 
count is  in  Miss  Sanford 's  own  words,  given 
on  her  eighteenth  birthday:  "Near  this  time 
I  had  the  bitterest  experience  of  my  life,  which 
I  speak  of  with  the  utmost  reluctance,  but 


MARIA   SANFORD 
The  Teacher 


MARIA  SANFORD  59 

which  had  so  intimate  a  bearing  upon  my  life 
and  caused  me  to  turn  such  a  square  corner 
that  it  would  not  be  fair  to  omit  it.  You  have 
asked  me  for  the  salient  matters  in  my  life, 
and  if  they  are  worth  anything  to  you,  it  would 
not  be  right  to  leave  out  the  most  important 
of  them  all. 

"I  became  engaged,  while  at  New  Haven,  to 
a  young  theological  student  who  became, 
eventually,  editor  of  one  of  the  leading  Chris- 
tian magazines  of  this  country.  "We  were 
both  passing  through  that  perilous  period 
when  young  people,  brought  up  in  strictest 
doctrinal  belief,  begin  to  widen  their  view- 
point about  the  essential  matters  of  life — it 
may  interest  you  to  know  that  I  read  Darwin's 
Origin  of  Species  before  it  was  published  in 
this  country.  This  book,  among  others  on  the 
natural  sciences  and  natural  philosophy,  en- 
tranced and  interested  us  beyond  measure. 
We  felt  that  they  must  be  true,  and  yet  they 
disturbed  our  fundamental  faiths.  "We  could 
not  see,  as  yet,  that  geology,  astronomy  and 
the  allied  sciences  reveal  God  in  his  goodness 
and  greatness.  We  thought  they  simply  con- 
troverted and  tried  to  disprove  God.  Poor, 
blind  children  that  we  were.  Religion  was  first 
of  all  things  in  my  mind.  I  wrestled  through 


60  MARIA  SANFOBD 

weeks  of  doubt  and  despair.  My  reason  was 
arrayed  against  my  conviction,  and  I  was  the 
storm  center  in  an  awful  void  between  the  two. 

"My  final  peace  and  light  came  to  me 
through  prayer,  and  I  came  to  feel  that  all  was 
one,  and  that  everything  was  somehow  in  per- 
fect tune,  though  we  could  not  read  the  har- 
monies aright.  And  so  I  found  the  peace 
which  passeth  all  understanding.  But  my 
friend  did  not;  at  least,  not  then,  and  I  was 
led  to  break  my  engagement  with  him  and 
throw  myself  more  and  more  deeply  into  the 
studies  which,  I  now  felt  convinced,  must  fill 
my  life  and  make  up  my  sum  of  days  upon 
earth.  I  passed  through  this  before  I  was 
twenty-five,  and  was  given  strength  and  abid- 
ing peace  to  take  up  my  studies  alone." 

One  can  only  conjecture  how  different  her 
life  would  have  been  if  this  estrangement  had 
not  occurred.  But  late  in  life  Miss  Sanford 
told  a  friend  that  she  would  have  been  much 
happier  had  she  married.  To  the  reader  of  the 
biography  of  the  eminent  divine  whom  she  men- 
tioned, it  seems  that  if  she  had  not  had  this 
experience  her  development  would  have  been 
very  different.  The  young  man,  at  the  time  of 
the  engagement  a  professed  atheist,  came  later 
to  be  regarded  as  the  most  orthodox  of  evan- 


MAKIA  SANFOBD  61 

gelical  preachers,  noted  for  his  sincerity, 
earnestness,  and  conservatism.  Although  he 
never  finished  his  college  course,  he  had,  later 
in  life,  numerous  honorary  degrees  conferred 
upon  him  by  various  colleges.  A  great  travel- 
ler, a  well  known  speaker,  he  was  noted  for  his 
wide  and  accurate  knowledge  both  of  facts  and 
of  literature,  and  for  his  remarkable  memory. 
He  once  stated  that  if  the  entire  Bible  should 
be  destroyed,  he  could  reproduce  two-thirds  of 
it  from  memory.  The  promise  of  power  was 
strong  in  the  young  man,  and  the  similarity 
between  the  two  is  very  apparent  to  the  reader. 
Thrice  married,  he  was  a  strong  opponent  of 
woman  suffrage.  Miss  Sanf ord,  though  she  did 
not  espouse  the  cause  of  woman  suffrage  until 
after  she  was  seventy  years  of  age,  became  an 
ardent  exponent  of  the  cause.  She  died  only 
a  few  months  before  suffrage  was  granted  to 
the  women  of  this  country.  Miss  Sanford,  like 
him,  became  a  great  public  speaker  and 
preacher;  she  too  was  noted  for  the  variety 
and  accuracy  of  her  knowledge.  Very  few  peo- 
ple could  compare  with  her  in  her  memory  of 
poetry.  But  it  is  odd  to  note  that  whereas  she 
says  that  she  broke  her  engagement  because 
she  felt  that  her  friend  did  not  hold  fast  to  his 
religious  faith,  she  herself  was  known  for  most 


62  MARIA  SANFOED 

of  her  life  as  unusually  broad  in  her  religious 
views.  One  of  her  colleagues  at  Swarthmore 
said  that  Miss  Sanf ord  was  so  far  ahead  of  her 
time  in  religious  thought  that  it  took  him  fifty 
years  to  catch  up  with  her.  Her  private  happi- 
ness was  sacrificed  in  this  case  as  it  was  all  her 
life  long  for  what  she  believed  to  be  the  only 
right  course  for  a  Christian  to  take. 

With  the  removal  to  New  Haven,  where  she 
taught  for  five  years,  she  took  another  step  for- 
ward. Her  work  and  her  salary  were  both  ad- 
vanced, and  she  could  have  her  mother  and 
brother  at  home  with  her. 

The  nearness  to  Yale  University  inspired  her 
to  obtain  a  higher  education,  but  she  knew  of 
no  college  that  admitted  women.  Determined 
in  spite  of  circumstances  to  learn  as  much  as 
possible,  she  obtained  an  introduction  to  the 
eminent  historian  John  Fiske,  and  asked  his 
advice  about  her  studies.  He  very  kindly  made 
out  a  list  of  reading,  mainly  in  history  and  sci- 
ence, which  she  pursued  with  the  aid  of  books 
from  the  public  library  in  New  Haven.  It  was 
a  stiff  course.  She  read  through  Grote's  His- 
tory of  Greece  in  twelve  big  volumes,  and  was 
surprised  to  find  the  first  volume  pretty  well 
thumbed,  the  second  less  so ;  she  had  to  cut  the 
leaves  of  the  remaining  ten  volumes.  She 


MAEIA  SANFOED  63 

studied  all  this  history  with  maps  to  guide  her, 
took  up  logic,  science,  and  a  number  of  other 
subjects,  and  taught  at  the  same  time.  In  addi- 
tion she  took  to  board  two  girls  who  otherwise 
could  not  have  gone  to  school.  She  did  most 
of  the  housework  because  of  her  mother's  frail 
health,  and  still  had  time  to  help  the  girls  with 
their  lessons. 

When  Miss  Sanford  was  still  in  the  twenties 
she  did  something  else  which  for  a  young 
woman  in  those  days,  one  who  had  to  earn  her 
living  and  keep  a  home  on  a  salary  smaller 
than  any  man  in  the  same  position  would  have 
had,  must  have  required  both  uncommon  cour- 
age and  uncommon  generosity.  She  asked  a 
young  woman  friend  to  lend  a  thousand  dollars 
to  three  young  men  in  whom  she  was  interested, 
in  order  that  they  might  undertake  some  busi- 
ness venture  in  the  South.  Miss  Sanford  be- 
came surety  for  the  payment  of  the  money,  in 
case  the  young  men  failed  to  pay  it.  The  his- 
tory of  that  loan,  and  the  payment  of  the  money, 
principal  and  interest,  is  a  remarkable  instance 
of  high  integrity  on  the  part  of  Miss  Sanford 
and  of  the  friend  who  made  the  loan. 

In  1875,  many  years  after  this  money  had 
been  borrowed,  the  friend  offered  to  give  up 
the  notes  she  held,  if  Miss  Sanford  could  raise 


64  MAEIA  SANFOBD 

the  principal;  she  said  she  would  gladly  waive 
the  interest.  Miss  Sanford  thought  at  that  time 
she  could  redeem  one  note  in  a  few  weeks.  She 
said  she  had  been  delayed  in  the  payment  of 
another  debt  of  nine  hundred  dollars  which  she 
had  paid.  She  assured  her  creditor  that  if  she 
was  spared  life  and  health  she  fully  intended 
paying  interest  for  the  full  time,  and  should 
feel  just  as  ready  to  do  so  if  the  notes  were 
redeemed  as  she  should  if  they  were  held.  Sev- 
eral times  the  friend  needed  the  money ;  once  at 
the  time  of  her  approaching  marriage.  Miss 
Sanford  felt  hurt  when  she  was  pressed;  and 
said  she  could  not  sleep  in  her  grave  if  the 
money  was  not  paid.  Her  friend  never  lost 
faith  in  Miss  Sanford 's  integrity,  though  it 
was  more  than  fifty  years  before  the  entire 
debt  was  cancelled.  Her  friend,  some  years 
Miss  Sanford 's  senior,  wrote  a  letter  of  hearty 
congratulation  when  Carleton  College  con- 
ferred a  doctor's  degree  upon  Miss  Sanford. 
Even  at  that  time  thvi  debt  was  not  paid,  and 
Miss  Sanford  said  the  letter  meant  more  to  her 
than  the  degree. 

After  five  years  of  teaching  at  New  Haven 
Miss  Sanford  went  again  for  a  year  to  Middle- 
field,  because  she  was  offered  a  better  salary. 
But  even  this,  which  was  thirty-six  dollars  a 


MARIA  SANFOED  65 

month  and  board,  did  not  satisfy  her  ambition. 
She  wanted  to  become  principal  of  a  graded 
school,  but  felt  that  the  people  of  Connecticut 
were  too  conservative  to  give  such  a  position 
to  a  woman.  The  lasting  influence  she  wielded 
over  her  pupils  is  evident  in  a  letter  written  by 
a  university  professor  to  her  some  years  after 
her  retirement.  The  writer  had  been  her  pupil 
that  last  year  in  Middlefield;  and  retained 
nearly  fifty  years  later  vivid  memories  of  the 
teacher  of  his  childhood. 

"It  must  have  been  somewhere  between  1866 
and  1868  when  I  was  from  ten  to  twelve  years 
old,  that  you  kept  me  after  school  one  after- 
noon in  the  Cedar  Grove  schoolhouse  in  Middle- 
field,  Connecticut.  I  had  been  unusually  mis- 
chievous that  day.  The  other  children  as  well 
as  myself  expected  that  a  serious  punishment 
was  forthcoming. 

"You  drew  me  upon  your  lap, — great,  hulk- 
ing boy  that  I  was,  and  spoke  to  me  somewhat 
as  follows:  'I  never  expect  to  become  great 
myself,  but  hope  that  some  of  my  pupils  will 
become  such.  In  that  way  I  will  hope  to  be- 
come great  indirectly.  You  have  given  me  con- 
siderable trouble  by  your  pranks.  You  seem 
to  have  an  active  mind,  and  you  can  become  a 

5 


66  MARIA  SANFOED 

great  man  if  you  will  apply  yourself  diligently 
and  give  up  your  mischief  making  ways.' 

"  Before  going  home  that  afternoon,  I  prom- 
ised amendment,  and  from  that  time  on  I  had 
and  still  have  great  love  and  admiration  for 
you.  In  my  boyish  enthusiasm  I  used  to  take 
you  out  riding  with  old  Ted,  and  used  to  take 
you  out  coasting  on  a  great  sled  that  my  father 
had  just  made  for  me  in  his  shop. 

"After  you  left  Middlefield  I  did  not  seem 
to  know  how  to  reach  you,  and  as  the  years 
went  on  I  had  left  only  pleasant  memories.  At 
this  late  day  I  am  rejoiced  to  learn  of  you  and 
am  looking  forward  with  pleasure  to  seeing  you 
in  the  early  part  of  January. ' ' 

The  fame  of  the  unusual  methods  of  the  young 
teacher  attracted  many  visitors,  among  them 
Mr.  W.  W.  "Woodruff,  a  long  time  superintend- 
ent of  schools  in  Chester  county,  Pennsylvania. 
In  a  visit  to  a  school  in  Connecticut  he  saw  on 
the  blackboard  the  motto:  "We  endeavor  to 
do  what  we  undertake."  He  was  told  it  had 
been  placed  there  by  a  teacher  who  had  left  the 
school  five  years  before,  and  that  the  pupils 
would  not  have  it  erased.  This  so  impressed 
him  that  he  found  out  where  she  was  teaching 
and  went  to  visit  her  school.  She  had  been 
called  away  by  the  severe  illness  of  some  mem- 


MAEIA  SANFORD  67 

ber  of  her  family.  She  had  made  out  a  sched- 
ule for  the  children;  and  when  the  visitor  ar- 
rived he  found  the  school  running  itself.  Such 
an  unusual  proceeding  strengthened  the  im- 
pression he  had  already  received,  that  he  had 
found  a  remarkable  teacher,  and  he  determined 
to  try  to  get  her  to  go  to  Pennsylvania. 

The  chance  occurred  the  next  fall  and  found 
Miss  Sanford  ready  to  go  farther  west,  where 
she  believed  there  would  not  be  so  much  preju- 
dice against  giving  women  responsible  posi- 
tions as  there  would  be  in  what  she  called 
"the  land  of  steady  habits".  Superintendent 
Woodruff  told  the  school  board  who  wanted  a 
teacher  that  she  would  not  go  for  the  salary 
they  offered — forty  dollars  a  month,  but  that  he 
believed  she  would  for  forty-five  dollars.  And 
he  offered,  if  any  member  of  the  board  was  dis- 
satisfied with  the  new  teacher,  or  even  '  cleared 
his  throat  over  the  matter',  to  pay  the  extra 
twenty  dollars  for  the  four  months'  school  from 
his  own  pocket. 


CHAPTER  III 
THE,  TEACHER 

At  the  age  of  thirty-one  Miss  Sanf ord  left 
her  native  state  for  the  first  time.  She  taught 
first  at  Parkersville,  Pennsylvania,  where  she 
made  almost  a  sensation  among  the  Quakers 
of  the  community.  Though  she  found  herself, 
on  the  whole,  very  much  in  accord  with  a  sect 
before  unknown  to  her,  yet  her  sturdy  inde- 
pendence did  not  easily  give  way  to  some  of 
their  religious  customs,  and  she  had  to  endure 
some  opposition.  She  had  always  been  accus- 
tomed to  opening  school  by  reading  the  Scrip- 
tures and  kneeling  in  prayer.  This  custom  of 
course  Quakers  found  obnoxious,  but  she  ad- 
hered to  it  in  spite  of  unfavorable  criticism. 

The  fame  of  her  unusual  methods  of  teach- 
ing travelled  so  fast  that  in  the  first  four 
months'  term  she  had  two  hundred  visitors. 
One  novelty  which  impressed  them  was  the 
fact  that  pupils  were  trained  to  keep  their  at- 
tention fixed  on  their  work  when  strangers 
came.  Another  was  the  exercise  of  turning 

68 


MAEIA  SANFOED  «9 

poetry  into  prose  in  order  to  see  whether  the 
children  understood  the  poetry.  The  superin- 
tendent visited  her  school  many  times.  Each 
visit  strengthened  his  opinion  that  she  was  the 
most  remarkable  teacher  he  had  known  in  an 
educational  experience  of  twenty-five  years, 
during  which  he  had  examined  three  thousand 
teachers,  and  made  nearly  as  many  visits  to 
schools.  He  made  careful  notes  of  the  work  of 
the  new  teacher  for  publication  in  the  county 
School  Journal.  The  phenomenal  attendance 
record  of  ninety-three  per  cent,  instead  of  the 
usual  seventy-five  per  cent  of  rural  schools, 
testified  to  the  hold  she  had  on  the  pupils. 
More  than  forty  years  afterward,  a  year  after 
she  had  retired  from  the  University  of  Minne- 
sota, a  doctor  in  New  Jersey,  hearing  that  Miss 
Sanford  was  going  to  be  in  Chester  County, 
wrote  to  Superintendent  Woodruff: 

"My  brother  tells  me  that  Miss  Maria  L. 
Sanford  will  be  in  "West  Chester  soon.  As  an 
original  pupil  of  Miss  Sanford  when  she  came 
to  Chester  County,  and  one  of  the  bonnie  twelve 
which  she  prized  so  highly,  I  am  very  anxious 
to  again  meet  her. 

*  *  Forty-two  years  ago  she  taught  at  Parkers- 
ville  and  it  has  always  been  a  recollection  of  joy 
when  I  think  of  that  time,  as  she  did  more  to 


70  MARIA  SANFORD 

create  in  me  the  love  of  knowledge  than  any 
teacher  that  I  had  the  pleasure  to  go  to.  If 
you  can  give  me  the  time  when  I  can  meet  her, 
I  shall  consider  it  a  great  favor." 

The  "bonnie  twelve"  were  the  twelve  pupils 
whose  names  were  beautifully  printed  on  a  roll 
of  honor  which  had  been  decorated  in  pen  and 
ink  work  by  Miss  Sanford's  brother,  who  was  a 
draughtsman  by  profession.  Each  pupil  had  a 
copy  for  his  own  and  another  is  still  carefully 
preserved  by  the  Sanf ord  family. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  first  term  Miss  San- 
ford's  salary  was  raised  one- third  for  the  sum- 
mer term,  and  she  was  offered  sixty  dollars  a 
month  for  the  next  year.  But  the  neighboring 
town  of  Unionville  offered  more,  and  she  went 
there  to  teach  in  Jacob  Harvey's  Academy. 
Some  of  the  pupils  followed,  and  so  paid  a 
double  tax  rate  in  order  to  be  under  her  instruc- 
tion. Here  as  in  her  earlier  schools  Miss  San- 
ford's  tremendous  energy  continued  to  be  the 
marvel  of  every  one.  While  she  was  in  Union- 
ville she  used  often  to  walk  to  the  home  of  one 
of  the  directors,  a  distance  of  ten  miles,  arriv- 
ing in  time  for  breakfast,  in  order  to  talk  over 
school  matters.  Here  she  would  pick  up  the 
baby,  who  was  ill  and  fretful,  and  walk  with  him 
on  her  shoulder  while  she  talked  with  his  father 


MAEIA  SANFORD  71 

on  school  matters.  It  was  remarked  that  she 
never  failed  to  quiet  the  baby. 

One  incident  of  this  period  is  still  fondly 
remembered  by  the  pupils  of  the  school  A 
fifteen  year  old  girl,  one  of  her  pupils,  was  so 
impressed  with  Miss  Sanford 's  spirit,  that  one 
day  when  the  worst  snowstorm  known  for 
years  came  and  piled  the  snow  as  high  as  the 
fences,  and  every  one  thought  school  impos- 
sible, she  insisted  that  Miss  Sanford  would 
not  expect  any  of  them  to  give  up  school  for 
so  small  a  thing  as  a  snow-storm.  So  finally 
her  father  got  a  horse,  and  took  his  daughter 
on  the  saddle  in  front  of  him.  After  a  time 
the  drifts  were  too  much  for  the  horse,  and 
the  father  turned  back;  but  the  little  girl 
slipped  from  the  saddle  and  plunged  through 
on  foot.  Only  a  few  children  who  lived  near 
the  school  were  present,  but  they  saw  her 
coming,  and  with  shouts  made  a  path  for  her. 
Miss  Sanford  made  a  fire  in  a  room  upstairs 
and  sent  to  a  near-by  house  for  dry  clothing 
for  the  child.  It  was  days  before  she  was  able 
to  get  back  home.  This  incident  formed  the 
basis  for  the  school  motto,  "Nothing  is  impos- 
sible to  him  who  wills."  The  superintendent 
told  that  story  to  every  school  in  the  county. 

In  the  spring  of  1869  twenty-five  of  the  lead- 


72  MARIA  SANFORD 

ing  citizens  in  ten  towns  of  the  county  began  a 
campaign  to  have  her  elected  county  superin- 
tendent. They  distributed  a  pamphlet  that 
set  forth  her  qualifications  and  signed  their 
names  to  the  leaflet.  As  to  her  scholarship 
they  stated  that  with  the  exception  of  the  clas- 
sics she  was  equal  to  the  graduates  of  Harvard 
and  Yale.  Miss  Sanford  made  a  whirlwind 
campaign,  visiting  every  voter  and  walking 
sometimes  sixteen  miles  after  school.  But  she 
was  attempting  something  too  radical;  a 
woman  superintendent  had  never  been  heard 
of,  and  she  failed  of  election,  a  man  gaining 
over  her  by  a  narrow  margin.  Although  she 
did  not  become  superintendent  she  was  made 
principal  of  a  school  in  another  town,  where 
she  instituted  the  custom  of  having  the  four 
schools  of  the  town  meet  together  once  a  month 
for  mutual  improvement.  Each  school  took 
its  turn  in  showing  what  it  had  accomplished 
and  demonstrated  any  new  methods  that  had 
proved  successful.  This  was  carried  out  so 
much  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  townspeople 
that  they  .made  up  an  extra  purse  of  money 
for  her.  So  much  antagonism  from  this  arose 
among  some  of  the  teachers  that  one  left  the 
town.  Her  next  innovation  was  to  lecture  at 
a  teachers'  institute.  It  came  about  natur- 


MAKIA  SANFORD  73 

ally.  Teachers'  institutes  were  held  once  a 
month  and  teachers  had  their  choice  of  con- 
ducting their  regular  work  or  spending  the  day 
at  the  institute.  In  the  absence  of  one  of  the 
regular  speakers  Miss  Sanford  was  called 
upon  to  explain  the  method  of  some  of  her 
work,  and  found  her  real  vocation.  She  be- 
gan to  speak  with  great  timidity,  but  gained 
courage  as  she  proceeded,  and  at  the  close  of 
the  institute  had  added  a  new  interest  to  the 
gatherings.  From  the  first,  her  force  of  char- 
acter, her  dignity,  her  earnestness,  and  her 
enthusiasm  impressed  all  who  heard  her. 
Added  to  these  she  had  inherited  a  voice  of 
remarkable  purity,  flexibility  and  power.  In 
a  family  of  beautiful  singers  she  could  never 
carry  a  tune;  but  her  speaking  voice  had  such 
power  that  it  penetrated  to  the  hearts  of  thou- 
sands. 

In  order  to  understand  why  the  young 
teacher  felt  timid  about  speaking  before  her 
colleagues,  it  is  necessary  to  recall  that  as  late 
as  1856  it  was  considered  Almost  disgraceful 
for  a  woman  to  speak  in  public.  In  the  His- 
tory of  Women's  Suffrage  the  statement  is 
made  that  at  the  State  Teachers'  Association 
in  New  York,  in  1856,  the  president,  Professor 
Davis,  of  "West  Point,  in  referring  to  an  ad- 


74  MARIA  SANFOBD 

dress  made  by  Susan  B.  Anthony  in  which  she 
advocated  opening  schools,  colleges  and  uni- 
versities to  women,  said:  "I  am  opposed  to 
anything  that  has  a  tendency  to  impair  the 
sensitive  delicacy  and  purity  of  the  female 
character  or  to  remove  the  restraints  of  life. 
These  resolutions  are  the  first  step  in  the 
school  which  seeks  to  abolish  marriage,  and 
behind  this  picture  I  see  a  monster  of  social 
deformity.  I  would  rather  have  followed  my 
wife  or  daughter  to  Greenwood  Cemetery  than 
to  have  had  her  stand  here  before  this  promiscu- 
ous audience  and  deliver  that  address." 

Public  opinion  did  not  change  so  rapidly  in 
the  sixties  as  it  does  now;  it  is  safe  to  say  that 
when  Miss  Sanford  delivered  ^her  first  address 
before  a  teachers'  institute  in  Pennsylvania 
in  1868  she  was  braving  public  opinion  almost 
as  much  as  Susan  B.  Anthony  had  done  twelve 
years  earlier.  The  editor  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania School  Journal,  who  heard  the  address, 
in  referring  to  it  afterwards  said:  "We  well 
remember  Miss  Sanford 's  paper  before  the 
State  Teachers'  Association  at  Allentown  in 
1868.  It  was  her  first  appearance  before  such 
a  public  audience,  and  she  read  under  an  in- 
tense nervous  strain,  little  dreaming  it  was 
the  first  of  thousands  of  such  addresses  she 


MARIA  SANFORD  75 

was  to  deliver,  warm  from  her  own  heart  to 
the  hearts  of  thousands  of  sympathetic  hear- 
ers. She  stood  in  front  of  the  audience  just 
inside  of  the  rail,  a  young  girl  strung  to  nerv- 
ous tension,  pale  but  resolute.  The  paper 
shook  in  her  hand,  but  she  had  something  to 
say,  was  saying  it  earnestly  as  she  had  done 
all  her  life,  and  her  audience  gave  earnest  at- 
tention. I  remember  again  reading  the  proof 
of  this  paper  for  the  report  that  was  published 
in  the  Journal.  The  summer  rain  was  falling 
on  the  maple  leaves  just  outside  the  open  win- 
dows, and  we  heard  the  steady  drip  of  water 
through  the  pipes  in  the  darkness.  We  came 
upon  the  suggestive  lines  quoted  in  the  paper, 

Reach  a  hand  through  time  to  catch 
The  far-off  interest  of  tears. 

But  it  was  the  personality  of  the  reader  by 
which  we  were  most  impressed." 

The  same  editor  on  a  later  occasion  asked 
Miss  Sanford  to  deliver  a  lecture  on  astron- 
omy. He  was  conducting  a  Star  Study  Group 
in  connection  with  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  and  had  been  disappointed  in  a 
speaker  for  a  certain  meeting.  When  Miss 
Sanford  protested  that  she  knew  nothing 
about  astronomy  the  editor  still  urged  her  to 


76  MARIA  SANFORD 

give  a  talk.  She  finally  consented,  and  after 
some  preparation  she  gave  an  excellent  talk, 
ending  with  Longfellow's  poem,  The  Occulta- 
tion  of  Orion,  which  she  recited  with  telling 
effect. 

From  this  time  on  she  was  sought  frequently 
to  give  good  advice  to  young  teachers.  One  of 
her  earliest  lectures  was  on  Moral  Training 
in  School,  a  subject  which  was  always  fore- 
most in  her  esteem.  Among  other  things  she 
held  that,  although  moral  training  belongs  to 
the  home,  it  also  belongs  to  the  school  and 
must  begin  in  the  character  of  the  teacher. 
She  emphasized  the  fact  that  moral  culture 
never  hinders  but  rather  stimulates  mental 
growth.  She  urged  teachers  always  to  bring 
a  school  under  the  dominion  of  love,  to  make 
gentleness  and  kindness  the  law  of  the  play- 
ground, and  industry  and  honesty  that  of  the 
classroom,  "to  fill  every  heart  with  love  for 
all  that  is  good  and  true,  and  kindle  the  soul 
with  a  longing  for  a  noble  life.  Then,"  said 
she,  "  the  intellect  will  brighten  as  if  kindled 
by  the  smile  of  heaven." 

Another  lecture  was  entitled  How  Can  We 
Elevate  Our  Public  Schools?  In  this  forceful 
lecture  she  stated  that  we  can  work  first  to 
gather  the  children  into  the  schools,  then  to 


MARIA  SANFORD  77 

seek  for  high  scholarship  in  teachers,  then  to 
show  how  infinitely  superior  is  the  spiritual  to 
the  physical  nature;  work  to  prove  that  neat- 
ness and  beauty  are  better  than  the  rod  to 
secure  good  order;  teach  thoroughness;  per- 
mit nothing  in  the  schoolroom  that  would  be 
condemned  in  the  drawing-room  of  a  culti- 
vated family,  and  teach  the  dignity  of  labor. 
Everyone  acquainted  with  Miss  Sanford  in 
her  later  life  will  recognize  these  sentiments 
as  very  dear  to  her  heart. 

Another  lecture  given  many  times  at  teach- 
ers' institutes  was  entitled  Lessons  in  Man- 
ners and  Morals.  In  those  days  it  was  a  novel 
idea  to  advocate  the  teaching  of  manners  and 
morals  in  school,  but  Miss  Sanford  was  always 
ahead  of  her  time.  Among  the  things  she 
urged  upon  the  teachers  in  this  lecture  were 
the  following:  " Without  in  any  way  enter- 
ing upon  the  religious  aspect  of  this  question, 
either  by  upholding  or  disclaiming  special 
tenets,  I  affirm  that  my  experience  leads  me  to 
believe  that  love  of  truth  is  no  more  inborn 
than  love  of  mathematics.  There  are  differ- 
ent degrees  of  capacity  for  each;  but  each, 
like  the  other,  must  be  taught  and  learned.  I 
maintain  that  however  moral  ideas  may  be  ob- 
tained, moral  training  is  necessary  to  secure 


78  MARIA  SANFORD 

obedience  to  their  requirements  .  .  .  But  no 
further  than  we  would  trust  to  the  child's  educa- 
tion in  mathematics  to  make  him  a  good  linguist 
can  we  trust  his  training  in  either  of  these  to  de- 
velop his  moral  nature  and  fit  him  for  the  re- 
sponsibilities of  life. ' ' 

Miss  Sanford  stated  .  emphatically  in  this 
lecture  a  belief  she  held  throughout  her  life 
when  she  said:  "Our  ideas  of  education  are 
too  narrow  and  exclusive ;  we  are  the  devotees 
of  books;  we  can  conceive  of  no  education 
without  them;  we  are  ready  to  deny  the  iden- 
tity of  Homer  and  Shakespeare  because  they 
were  so  independent  of  such  aid.  Even  those 
who  avoid  the  cramming  process  still  work  too 
absolutely  for  scholastic  development  .  .  . 
It  is  urged  by  some  that  this  moral  training 
takes  time  and  there  is  none  to  spare.  Noth- 
ing was  ever  more  ridiculous  than  this  plea. 
Is  there  time  enough  for  grammar,  but  none 
for  honesty;  time  for  mathematics  but  not  for 
truth?  Shall  we  devote  hours  to  geography 
and  grudge  minutes  to  temperance?  Shall  we 
with  scrupulous  care  insist  upon  exactness 
and  elegance  in  speech  and  neglect  that 
thoughtful  kindness  which  lends  a  charm  to 
the  homeliest  phrase?  Is  there  time  to  pore 
over  battles  and  learn  of  kings  and  none  to 


MAEIA  SANFORD  79 

wake  admiration  for  the  faithful  performance 
of  daily  duties?  We  can  well  fore,go  some- 
thing of  scholarship  for  the  blessings  of 
patriotism  and  virtue,  but  we  are  called  to  no 
such  sacrifice.  Intellectual  progress  is  ad- 
vanced instead  of  being  retarded  by  attention 
to  moral  culture. 

"Many  are  led  to  neglect  all  effort  by  the 
feeling  of  disgust  with  which  they  recall  the 
ponderous  and  prosy  lectures  by  which  their 
young  ears  were  bored.  Such  teaching  should 
indeed  be  avoided,  and  any  attempts  at  stated 
periods  for  moral  instruction  will  be  very 
likely  to  degenerate  to  formality  and  cant,  but 
if  we  are  filled  with  a  sense  of  the  importance 
of  the  subject  and  of  our  responsibility,  the 
fitting  opportunity  will  not  be  wanting." 

In  the  course  of  the  lecture  Miss  Sanford 
urged  that  the  influence  of  poetry  should  never 
be  overlooked  in  teaching  morals  and  man- 
ners. She  recalled  the  power  that  music  had 
over  her  in  her  own  childhood.  "Music,"  she 
said,  "is  a  potent  charm  to  drive  away  evil 
spirits.  I  remember  in  my  childhood  when 
we  became  pettish  and  quarrelsome  our  mother 
would  call  on  us  for  a  song,  and  by  the  time 
it  was  over  the  clouds  would  be  dissipated 
and  sunshine  return  again.  Many  a  rock  of 


80  MAEIA  SANFORD 

offense  in  the  schoolroom  may  by  this  simple 
means  be  avoided ;  and  not  only  a  weary,  rest- 
less hour  be  charmed  away,  but  the  moral  tone 
of  the  school  raised  because  the  right  spirit 
instead  of  the  wrong  has  prevailed." 

Because  Miss  Sanford  had  taught  in  all 
kinds  of  schools,  including  a  one-room  coun- 
try school,  a  two-room  graded  school,  a  high 
school,  and  an  academy,  she  was  prepared  at 
teachers'  institutes  to  aid  teachers  in  all  kinds 
of  work.  She  gave  them  advice  on  school  dis- 
cipline; she  told  them  how  to  teach  history; 
she ,  gave  instruction  in  reading.  Her  talks 
were  always  very  practical.  She  would  urge 
the  teachers  to  train  the  voice,  and  remind 
them  that  as  a  nation  we  are  noted  as  nasal 
talkers.  She  urged  them  to  watch  their  own 
faults  and  try  to  avoid  them.  In  her  advice 
on  reading  she  urged  them  not  to  call  on  the 
best  readers  but  to  encourage  good  effort. 
That  last  suggestion  was  characteristic  of 
Miss  Sanford;  she  was  known  throughout  her 
whole  teaching  life  as  a  champion  of  the  poor 
student,  the  bad  boy,  the  child  not  interested 
in  school  work;  and  she  had  remarkable  suc- 
cess with  the  troublesome  child. 

It  was  also  characteristic  of  her  that  she 
gave  talks  to  the  teachers  upon  neatness  and 


MARIA  SANFOBD  81 

order.  She  had  the  New  England  Puritan 
belief  that  cleanliness  is  next  to  godliness. 
She  taught  that  neatness  of  person  brings 
carefulness  of  morals,  and  that  by  raising  the 
standard  of  neatness  in  the  schoolroom  the 
teachers  would  raise  it  in  the  community. 
She  gave  them  the  Puritan  sentiment  that 
goodness  of  nature  is  better  than  beauty  of 
face,  and  urged  them  to  give  more  attention 
to  the  useful  than  the  useless  in  dress. 

With  all  this  advice  Miss  Sanford  urged  the 
teachers  not  to  be  sentimental  and  to  avoid 
the  habit  of  reading  either  trashy  or  "goody" 
books,  but  instead  to  store  the  mind  with  beau- 
tiful things.  So  helpful  was  her  instruction 
to  country  school  teachers  that  one  editor  said 
that  Miss  Sanford  ought  to  be  the  president 
of  a  normal  school,  and  that  she  would  never 
find  her  right  place  until  she  became  a  teacher 
of  teachers.  She  was  as  much  interested  in 
her  fellow  teachers,  and  especially  in  the 
younger  ones,  as  she  was  in  her  pupils.  She 
used  to  tell  them  that  there  Avas  so  much  to  do 
in  the  world  that  every  one  in  it  ought  to  work 
with  all  his  might.  She  constantly  warned 
them  to  keep  their  health  and  to  keep  on  the 
alert  for  opportunity.  She  urged  them  to 
keep  ever  in  mind  the  thought:  "No  one  but 

6 


82  MARIA  SANFOED 

myself  can  do  my  work."  Another  thought 
she  was  fond  of  presenting  as  long  as  she  lived 
was  that  they  would  always  have  trouble. 
The  world  would  knock  them  down  sometimes, 
but  they  must  jump  up  with  clenched  fists  and 
go  at  their  work  anew.  One  of  her  many  mot- 
toes for  her  own  guidance  at  this  time  was, 
"Do  something  steadily.  Forty  years  study- 
ing birds." 

The  effect  of  the  mottoes  Miss  Sanford  had 
for  herself  and  for  others  all  her  life  might 
seem  to  be  very  small.  But  there  is  ample 
evidence  from  old  students  that  they  had  per- 
manence. One  woman  writes  fifty  years  after 
Miss  Sanford  taught  in  Chester  County,  "I 
did  not  have  the  good  fortune  to  be  one  of  her 
pupils,  but  one  of  the  bright  spots  in  my  mem- 
ory is  a  half  day  our  school  spent  with  hers  as 
visitors.  One  of  the  things  that  impressed 
me  that  day  was  a  passage  of  Scripture  she 
had  written  along  the  top  of  a  blackboard  in 
the  front  of  her  room:  'Buy  the  truth  and 
sell  it  not;  also  wisdom,  instruction  and  un- 
derstanding.' Before  dismissing  for  the  day 
she  had  the  children  rise  and  read  the  above 
in  concert.  Before  I  left  the  schoolroom  that 
motto  was  mine  for  a  lifetime,  and  I  naturally 


MARIA  SANFORD  83 

always  associated  the  words  with  Miss  San- 
ford." 

In  the  short  time  she  had  been  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, she  had  become  so  attached  to  the  com- 
munity f  that  in  later  years  she  wrote  to  a 
friend  in  West  Chester,  ' '  Those  years  in  Ches- 
ter County  were  among  the  most  valuable  of 
my  whole  life,  and  endeared  me  so  much  to  the 
people  that  I  feel  that  I  have  almost  the  inter- 
est and  claim  of  a  mother  in  all  that  concerns 
that  glorious  country." 

One  of  the  many  visitors  to  Miss  Sanford 's 
school  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  the  new 
Quaker  College  at  Swarthmore,  Pennsylvania. 
He  felt  that  such  a  teacher  would  be  a  great 
help  in  the  college ;  and  when  the  professor  of 
history  at  Swarthmore  broke  down  in  health, 
Miss  Sanford  was  engaged  as  an  instructor 
there.  She  entered  the  college  in  1869,  as 
teacher  of  English  and  History  and  the  next 
year  was  made  professor  of  history,  the  first 
woman  professor  in  the  United  States. 

When  she  went  to  Swarthmore,  the  mother 
and  brother  removed  to  Philadelphia,  and  Miss 
Sanford  maintained  the  home  there,  always 
going  in  from  Swarthmore  over  week  ends.  The 
mother,  always  frail,  died  of  pneumonia  in 
1874.  Maria  adored  her  lovely  mother,  but  she 


84  MAEIA  SANFORD 

had  learned  from  the  mother's  bravery  at  the 
death  of  the  father  not  to  give  way  to  over- 
whelming grief.  Her  idolized  brother  then  re- 
mained her  chief  interest.  When  he  married  a 
year  later,  Miss  Sanford  concentrated  her  at- 
tention on  an  orphaned  niece  who  had  come 
under  her  care  when  she  first  went  to  Swarth- 
more,  and  who  remained  with  her  at  Swarth- 
more  until  she  was  graduated  in  1880.  The 
following  letter  tells  how  she  came  to  have  the 
little  girl  with  her : 

*  *  My  dear  Aunt : 

.  I  write  to  you  in  tears  and  wish  to  tell  you 
that  I  have  told  a  lie  and  would  not  own  it  to 
Aunty.  I  have  the  dreadful  fault  and  have  told 
a  great  many.  Aunty  sent  me  away  this  morn- 
ing because  I  would  not  own  it,  and  came  up 
this  noon,  but  I  told  another  ( !)  She  told  me  she 
should  send  me  away  if  I  did  not  choose  to  stay 
and  obey  her  wishes. 

"She  bid  me  farewell  this  noon  and  said  I 
could  see  her  no  more,  that  she  should  write 
to  Uncle  to  come  out  and  take  me ;  and  I  write 
to  you  to  see  if  you  will  take  me.  I  will  do  my 
best  to  obey  your  wishes  if  you  will  only  let  me 
come.  But  I  don't  want  you  to  take  me  if  you 
think  I  shall  trouble  you  a  great  deal.  I  am 


MARIA  SANFORD  85 

going  to  strive  hard  to  break  up  this  dreadful 
fault." 

It  was  doubtless  when  Miss  Sanford  was 
helping  the  little  girl  to  break  up  this  dreadful 
fault  that  she  sometimes  kept  her  niece  shut 
into  her  room  for  a  day  at  a  time,  and  gave  the 
other  girls  in  the  school  the  idea  that  she  was 
too  strict  with  her  relatives.  The  girl  students 
used  to  throw  offerings  into  the  room  through 
the  transom  above  the  door,  and  visit  with  the 
little  prisoner  by  the  same  means.  The  niece 
lived  with  her  in  the  intimate  association  of 
mother  and  daughter. 

A  passage  from  a  letter  written  by  the  niece 
gives  a  glimpse  of  their  life :  "At  Swarthmore 
she  had  her  study  in  the  main  or  central  part 
of  the  building.  The  long  girls'  dormitory, 
where  she  and  I  shared  our  sleeping  room  was 
near,  and  at  the  opposite  end 'of  the  building 
was  the  boys'  dormitory.  One  night  I  was 
wakened  by  hearing  her  jump  out  of  bed  hast- 
ily, and  when  I  asked  her  what  was  the  matter, 
she  said,  'Listen.'  I  at  once  heard  a  dull  noise; 
and  she,  becoming  satisfied  that  some  disorder 
was  astir  in  the  boys'  region,  quickly  slipped 
on  slippers  and  wrapper  and  got  over  to  the 
scene  of  conflict  at  once.  The  boys  had  tied  up 
the  door  of  the  three  or  four  men  in  charge  of 


86  MARIA  SANFOKD 

their  dormitory,  and  were  having  a  riotous  pil- 
low fight,  not  expecting  the  noise  would  carry 
to  the  other  end  of  the  building.  So  she  caught 
them  red  handed  and  white-robed,  escorted 
them  to  the  various  doors  they  had  tied  up,  and 
had  them  release  their  prisoners.  There  were 
no  more  pillow  fights  after  that. ' ' 

A  letter  reveals  her  power  over  her  Swarth- 
more  students:  "When,  as  a  Freshman,  I  sat 
in  a  somewhat  bare  and  dreary  classroom,  its 
air  carrying  that  faint  odor  of  chalk  and  black- 
boards— which  I  had  learned  thoroughly  to  de- 
spise— the  door  opened  and  there  swept  in  a 
presence,  a  power,  a  force  which  might  have 
been  called  violent  excepting  for  its  control 
and  direction — in  the  shape  and  person  of 
Maria  Sanford. 

"I,  and  every  student  in  the  room,  became 
instantly  and  vividly  alert  and  expectant.  The 
following  hour  seemed  incredibly  short.  Miss 
Sanford  opened  a  new  and  wonderful  field  to 
eyes  eager  to  see,  but  till  then  blind. 

"To  me,  history  had  been  a  matter  of  mne- 
monics; dates — learned  only  for  examination 
and  as  quickly  forgotten ;  names — dead,  dry  and 
lifeless;  events  having  no  bearing  upon  the 
present — all  assembled  in  book  form  with  the 
main  purpose  of  robbing  youth  of  its  joy. 


MARIA  SANFOED  87 

"But  the  names  became  living,  moving,  act- 
ing men;  the  dates — points  of  departure;  the 
incidents  as  real  as  though  I  were  seeing  them — 
all  with  a  bearing  on  the  life  about  me. 

"This  was  my  first  impression  of  Maria  San- 
ford.  Her  name  brings  before  me  her  clear 
eyes,  her  broad  forehead,  her  quick  and  force- 
ful movements,  her  voice  ringing  with  enthu- 
siasm, and  best  of  all — her  spiritual  and  intel- 
lectual force,  which  has  so  largely  and  helpfully 
influenced  the  lives  of  the  thousands  who  were 
privileged  to  know  her. ' ' 

Miss  Sanford  never  wasted  a  moment.  She 
made  announcements  to  her  class  as  she  walked 
to  the  platform.  They  never  knew  when  a  test 
was  coming.  When  she  gave  one  she  called 
"Pencils  and  paper"  as  she  opened  the  door, 
and  began  her  questions  at  once.  The  papers 
were  passed  from  pupil  to  pupil  for  correction. 
In  the  freshman  class  she  used  to  have  a  test 
like  a  spelling  lesson  in  which  the  pupils  stood. 
She  gave  a  date ;  the  pupil  told  what  historical 
fact  occurred  on  that  date.  If  he  failed,  the 
first  one  who  gave  it  correctly  stepped  above 
him.  She  used  to  assign  epochs  in  history  on 
which  pupils  were  expected  to  do  outside  read- 
ing and  prepare  special  papers.  She  also  used 
to  assign  a  certain  number  of  pages  of  history 


88  MARIA  SANFOBD 

to  be  condensed  into  a  four  minute  recitation. 
Besides  this  each  pupil  was  required  to  write 
several  formal  papers  each  term.  In  her  zeal 
she  was  often  in  danger  of  encroaching  upon 
the  time  due  other  departments.  Pupils  would 
work  over  time  for  her. 

"One  of  the  features  of  the  school  at  Swarth- 
more  was  an  evening  study  period  of  one  and 
a  quarter  hours  of  undisturbed  quiet  study  in 
a  large  hall  where  all  except  Juniors  and  Sen- 
iors assembled.  President  Magill  and  Miss 
Sanford  were  the  only  ones  of  the  faculty  who 
could  maintain  the  required  discipline,  and  so 
few  of  the  faculty  ever  attempted  to  take-charge 
of  study  hour.  There  were  large  doors  from 
the  back  of  the  room  opening  into  the  hall ;  and 
Miss  Sanford  usually  staid  in  the  hall  or  per- 
haps went  into  her  study.  She  almost  never 
staid  in  the  room  to  watch  them,  but  the  effect 
of  her  presence  kept  the  pupils  in  perfect  order 
in  the  study  hour.  She  had  especial  patience 
with  students  who  were  backward  and  had  not 
had  so  many  advantages  as  the  average,  and 
would  do  double  work  with  them  to  enable  them 
to  rank  with  their  more  fortunate  companions. 

' '  She  was  greatly  beloved  not  only  by  the  stu- 
dents and  teachers,  but  even  by  the  domestics 
of  the  school.  At  Christmas  time  it  was  her 


MARIA  SANFORD  89 

habit  to  go  to  the  housekeeper  who  had  charge 
of  the  many  negro  servants,  and  ask  her  who 
among  them  were  not  well  known  or  popular, 
and  who  would  be  liable  to  be  neglected  at 
Christmas  time.  She  always  got  for  them  a  gay 
bandanna  turban  or  some  other  gift  dear  to  the 
darkey  heart,  that  there  might  be  none  among 
them  forgotten." 

In  appearance  at  this  time  she  was  notice- 
able. Her  hair,  cut  short,  was  already  turning 
gray.  She  always  wore  plain  black  gowns,  with 
long  sleeves  and  high  necked  collar  edged  with 
immaculate  white.  Her  costume  was  always 
the  same,  always  exquisitely  neat,  made  of  the 
very  best  materials,  loosely  fitted,  simply  but- 
toned, with  full  skirts ;  it  allowed  for  the  fullest 
possible  action,  and  was  noticeably  unbecom- 
ing. Her  rapid,  long-limbed  stride  took  no  ac- 
count of  clothing  and  always  left  all  her  habili- 
ments floating  behind  her  in  the  wind  of  her 
progress,  as  one  student  remarked,  "like  the 
draperies  of  the  Victory  of  Samothrace."  Al- 
though Swarthmore  is  a  Quaker  college,  and  the 
people  were  accustomed  to  plain  dress,  even 
Miss  Sanford's  warmest  admirers  bemoaned 
the  fact  that  she  would  not  dress  more  becom- 
ingly. Two  men  fifty  years  later  spoke  of  the 
ugly  congress  gaiters  she  wore.  She  never 


90  MARIA  SANFORD 

changed  her  style  of  dress  as  long  as  she  taught. 
The  severity  and  simplicity  saved  both  time, 
thought  and  money,  that  she  believed  she  could 
use  to  better  advantage  in  other  ways.  But  she 
was  heard  to  say  after  she  was  eighty  years  of 
age  that  if  she  had  her  life  to  live  over  again 
she  should  do  differently  about  dress.  With- 
out doubt  she  might  have  smoothed  some  rough 
paths  for  herself  if  when  she  was  younger 
she  had  dressed  more  nearly  in  the  accepted 
fashion. 

A  student  describes  her  at  that  time  as  tall, 
slender,  stately,  spiritual,  with  mobile  features 
which  lightened  and  darkened  according  to  the 
emotions  within,  filled  with  enthusiasm  for  her 
subject ;  the  upturned  faces  of  her  students  fol- 
lowing her  every  gesture  as  she  traced  some 
historic  event  upon  a  map  or  outline  upon  the 
board.  She  never  prepared  any  written  lectures 
in  undergraduate  work,  but  depended  on  sup- 
plementing the  classroom  work  with  brief  ex- 
temporaneous talks  in  further  illustration  of 
the  subject.  She  was  accustomed  to  making  fre- 
quent and  apt  quotations  from  her  wide  ac- 
quaintance with  poetry,  and  thus  made  history 
an  introduction  to  good  literature.  From  rapid 
fire  drill  in  Roman  History  with  the  freshmen 
to  informal  talks  and  discussions  with  wide  col- 


MAEIA  SANFORD  91 

lateral  reading  of  the  advanced  classes,  there 
was  never  a  dull  moment  anywhere.  Student 
after  student  testifies  to  an  enduring  love  of  his- 
tory aroused  in  her  classes  at  Swarthmore. 
Henry  of  Navarre,  Louis  XI,  and  others  lived 
again  for  those  boys  and  girls.  Yet  they  used 
to  think  they  were  very  clever  when  they  got 
Miss  Sanf ord  to  give  the  recitation  hour  to  de- 
scriptive narrative  or  to  poetry  connected  with 
the  time.  They  knew  later  that  they  did  not 
deceive  her,  but  that  she  was  choosing  to  give 
these  things  when  she  saw  the  time  and  the 
interest  right  for  them. 

In  addition  to  her  work  in  history  she  con- 
ducted one  class  in  the  elements  of  political 
economy,  based  on  John  Stuart  Mill  as  a  text, 
and  she  had  charge  of  all  the  public  speaking 
in  the  college.  In  those  days  every  teacher  had 
a  heavy  program;  Miss  Sanf  ord  in  addition  to 
her  teaching  addressed  teachers'  institutes  in 
the  adjacent  counties,  gave  courses  of  lectures 
on  history  and  political  economy  in  summer 
schools,  and  eventually  was  called  upon  to  lec- 
ture in  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Maryland.  Before 
she  left  Swarthmore  she  was  giving  illustrated 
lectures  on  the  art  of  European  countries,  a  nat- 
ural outgrowth  from  her  work  in  history. 

The  trait,  however,  for  which  she  was  held  in 


92  MAEIA  SANFORD 

fondest  remembrance  was  the  deep,  personal 
interest  she  took  in  the  moral  welfare  of  some 
of  the  young  men  inclined  to  be  wayward.  She 
placed  character  rather  than  scholarship  first, 
and  had  an  especial  fondness  for  boys  who 
were  bright  and  at  the  same  time  bad.  She  used 
to  say  '  *  There  are  plenty  of  people  to  love  God's 
children,  so  I  look  after  the  devil's."  One  boy 
who  was  expelled  from  college  she  took  to  her 
home  and  kept  for  a  time.  After  she  went  to 
Minnesota  his  parents  sent  him  to  her  when  he 
again  got  beyond  their  control. 

At  one  time  there  were  a  number  of  trouble- 
some boys  in  the  school.  They  broke  all  the 
rules  (one  hundred  of  them  which  the  presi- 
dent had  posted)  and  the  authorities  regarded 
them  as  very  wild  and  intemperate.  Most  of  the 
faculty  wished  to  expel  them,  but  Miss  Sanford 
pleaded  for  them.  She  took  them  under  her 
especial  care  and  gained  their  confidence,  until 
they  would  confess  their  wrongdoing  freely  to 
her.  She  finally  succeeded  in  getting  them  to 
reform  their  habits  and  they  all  kept  on  at 
school. 

Sunday  afternoon  was  a  great  day  for  those 
she  chose  to  take  to  walk  with  her.  The  coun- 
try was  comparatively  wild  then,  and  the 
woods  were  very  enticing.  She  used  to  lead 


MARIA  SANFORD  93 

her  little  band  through  them,  and  then  com- 
ing to  some  nice  spot  to  rest  she  would  tell 
them  stories  and  recite  poems.  She  seemed 
to  have  an  intuition  of  what  they  were  going 
to  need  in  life.  Then  there  were  her  books  at 
their  service.  Few  could  know  how  much  it 
meant  to  them.  It  was  not  a  matter  of  instruc- 
tion alone  between  her  and  her  pupils;  every- 
thing she  had  was  at  their  disposal.  She  gave 
out  of  her  life  and  her  heart,  and  it  was  no 
wonder  she  had  such  power  over  refractory 
boys. 

More  and  more  time  as  the  years  went  on 
Miss  Sanford  spent  at  teachers'  institutes.  In 
1873  she  was  the  only  woman  speaker  at  the 
state  association,  and  in  fact  for  many  years 
was  the  only  woman  to  lecture.  Even  as  late 
as  1878  the  institute  circulars  contained  the 
statement  that  "Lady  teachers  are  expected 
to  prepare  essays  to  be  read  at  the  day  and 
evening  sessions.  But  "Miss  Sanford  of 
Swarthmore  will  be  present  the  entire  ses- 
sion" was  a  drawing  card;  and  she  was  the 
only  woman  named.  In  1876  she  opened  at 
Beaumont  a  course  of  six  lectures  by  different 
speakers.  Her  subject  was  Honesty  in  Pub- 
lic and  Private  Life.  Single  tickets  were  ten 
cents;  course  tickets  fifty  cents.  Her  lifelong 


94  MARIA  SANFORD 

custom  was  to  charge  comparatively  little  for 
her  lectures.  From  lecturing  on  primary 
teaching,  geography,  history,  neatness  and 
order,  reading,  composition,  school  discipline, 
she  added  to  her  subjects  Luther  and  the 
Reformation,  and  The  Labor  Question.  The 
Winter  holiday  seasons  were  utilized,  insti- 
tutes being  held  at  those  seasons;  and  Miss 
Sanford  finally  sent  out  notices  that  she  could 
give  three  days  a  week  to  such  work.  A  course 
of  fifteen  public  lectures  in  history  was  finally 
arranged,  beginning  with  a  general  survey; 
then  with  several  lectures  each  on  Greece, 
Egypt,  Carthage,  Rome,  Venice,  France,  Eng- 
land. The  course  began  in  June,  one  lecture 
a  week  at  first.  Later  the  lectures  occurred 
oftener  for  the  convenience  of  her  audiences. 
This  course  made  the  transition  to  the  art  lec- 
tures of  later  years  both  natural  and  easy. 
In  fact  the  lectures  with  slides,  an  unsual 
accompaniment  in  these  days,  began  at  this 
time. 

The  Pennsylvania  School  Journal  of  Sep- 
tember 1878  had  the  following  significant  re- 
marks about  one  of  the  lectures:  "The  Labor 
Question  was  presented  by  Miss  Maria  L.  San- 
ford,  Professor  of  History  at  Swarthmore 
College  in  Delaware  County.  This  twas  one 


MARIA  SANFORD  95 

of  the  ablest  papers  of  the  session,  and  we 
heartily  commend  it  to  the  reader.  The  sub- 
ject was  discussed  from  a  high  standpoint, 
which  affords  the  advantage  of  a  broad  view 
to  the  unprejudiced  student  of  history.  Miss 
Sanford's  studies  have  eminently  fitted  her  to 
treat  this  subject  from  such  a  point  of  view, 
as  perhaps  no  other  member  of  the  association 
is  equally  at  home  with  herself  in  the  wide  field 
of  historical  literature. 

"  "The  trouble  of  our  times/  she  holds,  'is 
not  accidental,  but  part  of  the  long  struggle  of 
centuries,  a  phase  of  that  great  strife  between 
the  privileged  class  and  the  multitude,  between 
manhood  and  caste,  which  constitutes  three- 
fourths  of  the  whole  history  of  the  civilized 
nations. '  She  preaches  the  gospel  of  labor  in 
no  hollow-sounding  phrase,  and,  what  is  bet- 
ter, practices  what  she  preaches,  for  in  the 
circle  of  our  acquaintance  we  know  no  one 
who  is  a  more  enthusiastic,  more  tireless,  or 
more  effective  worker. ' ' 

The  quotation  from  the  lecture  has  a  very 
modern  sound,  and  the  remark  about  Miss  San- 
ford  was  one  that  was  very  often  on  the  lips 
of  her  admirers  and  friends.  It  was  largely 
because  she  did  practice  what  she  preached 
that  her  words  carried  conviction.  A  man 


96  MARIA  SANFORD 

from  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  wrote  to  her  in  a 
letter  in  1880:  "I  feel  that  your  lectures  are 
among  the  best  of  those  on  our  platform.  I 
believe  in  soul  power  and  earnestness."  He 
is  writing  to  tell  her  that  a  New  York  friend  of 
his  wants  her  name  in  his  lecture  bureau, 
where  he  has  the  names  of  Colonel  Homer  B. 
Sprague,  Wendell  Phillips,  and  Mrs.  Mary  A. 
Livermore.  As  this  was  just  at  the  time  Miss 
Sanford  went  to  Minnesota,  she  probably 
never  gave  her  name  to  the  bureau. 

It  would  be  neither  right  nor  best  to  omit 
the  account  of  the  struggles  and  hardships 
which  finally  resulted  in  sending  Miss  Sanford 
to  a  larger  field  of  work.  If  she  had  been  an 
ordinary  person  the  hardships  of  her  life  would 
have  broken  her  in  her  youth.  In  her  case  the 
result  of  the  smelting  process  was  pure  gold. 
As  has  recently  been  said  of  a  great  states- 
man, there  are  natures  which  require  austere 
living  always  in  order  to  bring  out  the  best  in 
them.  The  statesman's  fall  from  power  was 
credited  to  the  fact  that  the  austerity  of  his 
early  life  was  replaced  later  by  luxurious  liv- 
ing. Maria  Sanford  not  only  never  lived  lux- 
uriously, but  she  had  many  and  fiery  trials 
which  came  at  times  near  to  breaking  her  won- 
derful spirit.  Three  different  factors  entered 


MARIA  SANFORD  97 

into  the  final  determination  to  resign  her  posi- 
tion at  Swarthmore. 

Although  Miss  Sanford  was  the  first  woman 
professor  and  for  some  years  the  only  one, 
there  were  other  women  teaching  at  Swarth- 
more. One  of  these  disliked  Miss  Sanford. 
A  strong  woman  herself,  devoted  to  the  inter- 
ests of  Swarthmore,  she  became  little  short  of 
a  persecutor,  and  she  made  no  secret  of  her 
enmity.  Miss  Sanford  was  never  known  to 
speak  harshly  of  her,  but  it  was  partly  due  to 
the  unhappiness  she  caused  her  that  Miss  San- 
ford wished  to  leave  the  college.  Another 
woman  among  other  things  felt  that  Miss  San- 
ford was  neglecting  her  classes  by  giving  so 
much  time  to  lecturing  and  teaching  in  insti- 
tutes. Belated  to  some  members  of  the  board 
of  trustees,  she  imbued  them  with  her  ideas; 
so  that  the  very  thing  which  today  is  one  of 
the  greatest  factors  in  favor  of  a  college  pro- 
fessor, was  at  that  time  considered  a  disad- 
vantage. In  this  as  in  so  many  other  things 
Maria  Sanford  was  a  pioneer.  It  was  years 
before  it  was  considered  a  mark  of  distinction 
for  a  college  professor  to  leave  his  classes  in 
order  to  deliver  public  lectures.  The  trouble 
caused  by  Miss  Sanford 's  lectures  induced  the 
president  to  write  in  regard  to  the  matter: 

7 


98  MARIA  SANFORD 

"By  one  of  those  strange  perversities  in  the 
affairs  of  this  world,  the  very  person  who  has 
done  the  most  for  our  discipline  here,  whose 
moral  influence  is  the  greatest  and  best,  has 
been  the  victim  of  a  most  unprovoked  attack, 
but  fortunately  at  the  very  point  where  she  is 
strongest.  She  only  needs  time  and  a  full 
knowledge  of  the  facts  and  motives  from  the  be- 
ginning, on  the  part  of  all,  not  only  to  defend 
herself,  but  to  make  all  concerned  marvel  that 
any  combination  of  circumstances  could  have 
existed  which  could  make  it  necessary  to  enter 
upon  a  defense." 

Maria  Sanford  was  born  to  lecture  as  well 
as  to  teach,  and  it  never  occurred  to  her  to 
give  up  lecturing  in  order  to  please  some  of 
the  college  authorities.  She  knew  that  she 
was  doing  much  good,  and  she  believed  then 
as  most  people  do  now,  that  a  college  professor 
was  not  necessarily  neglecting  classes  because 
he  was  giving  public  lectures:  In  1878  her 
salary  was  cut  for  a  year  from  two  thousand 
dollars  to  fifteen  hundred.  Although  it  was 
not  stated  that  this  was  because  of  dissatis- 
faction with  her  lecturing,  it  was  easily  in- 
ferred that  such  was  the  case. 

The  President  wrote  to  a  number  of  the  col- 
lege trustees  that  under  the  circumstances  he 


MARIA  SANFOBD  99 

could  not  ask  Miss  Sanford,  as  he  had  expected 
to  do,  to  take  more  work.  She  at  once  made 
application  for  a  position  elsewhere.  The 
President,  in  writing  to  the  president  of  an- 
other college  on  her  behalf,  answered  that  she 
was  the  best  teacher  he  had  met  in  his  experi- 
ence of  twenty-five  years.  But  she  remained 
some  years  more  at  Swarthmore.  The  next 
year  in  a  letter  to  a  friend  of  his  who  had 
charge  of  a  school  the  President  wrote  that 
Maria  Sanford  wished  to  give  a  course  of  six 
lectures  to  her  school.  He  continues,  "I  want 
thee  to  know  her  better — I  consider  her  indi- 
rect influence  over  the  students  here  as  even 
of  greater  value  to  Swarthmore  than  her  in- 
struction in  history,  highly  as  I  esteem  her  as 
an  instructor  in  that  department. 

"Our  chief  lack  is  the  loss  of  the  time  of 
Miss  Sanford  for  three  days  of  each  week, 
making  it  necessary  to  sacrifice  the  history  in 
our  large  classes  A  and  B  and  the  instruction 
in  Political  Economy  in  the  junior  class.  If 
this  were  remedied  I  could  not  ask  to  have  the 
college  in  better  condition." 

The  three  days  a  week  for  institute  work  and 
lecturing  were  doubtless  granted  because  of 
the  five  hundred  dollar  cut  in  salary.  The 
president  makes  his  attitude  in  regard  to  the 


100  MARIA  SANFORD 

matter  clear  to  her  in  a  letter  in  which  he  says : 
"Thou  hast  enough  extra  work,  I  am  sure,  to 
afford  to  lose  a  few  classes  once  in  a  great 
while,  and  no  one  shall  censure  thee  for  that. ' ' 

In  appreciation  of  her  lectures  a  friend  in 
Baltimore,  Maryland,  wrote:  "At  a  meeting 
of  Friends  they  resolved  to  adjourn  their 
meeting  over  next  week  in  order  to  have  op- 
portunity to  enjoy  thy  lecture.  They  never 
did  that  before  to  hear  any  lecturer.  It  really 
was  for  thee  that  all  those  Friends  entered 
into  the  above  arrangement." 

A  letter  written  by  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Company,  Publishers,  of 
Boston,  in  1905,  shows  the  effect  of  her  teach- 
ing on  one  student: 

"  My  dear  and  beloved  Professor : 

Recently  you  have  been  brought  to  my  mind 
by  a  rather  striking  coincidence.  I  was  re- 
ceiving a  call  from  an  intimate  friend,  and  wo 
were  comparing  notes  on  teachers  who  had 
most  influenced  our  lives  and  thoughts.  I  said 
that  one  who  influenced  me  strongly  was  a  pro- 
fessor of  Ancient  History  who  was  so  inter- 
esting and  enthusiastic  that  even  the  driest 
parts  of  the  subject  became  interesting.  Mrs. 
C.  said  that  reminded  her  of  a  professor  who 


MARIA  SANFORD  101 

taught  English  Literature  at  the  University 
of  Minnesota,  and  I  asked  could  it  by  any  pos- 
sibility be  Professor  Sanford  and  wonderful 
to  relate,  it  was.  I  have  a  picture  in  my  mind 
of  you  as  you  used  to  sweep  into  the  lecture 
hall  brimming  over  with  enthusiasm  so  that 
everyone  in  the  class  felt  lifted  up  and  carried 
off  to  the  heights  of  Olympus.  The  leaven 
you  implanted  has  caused  me  to  read  exten- 
sively in  Mediaeval  and  Modern  History,  and 
Social  and  Economic  History." 

Another  written  by  a  woman  in  Somerville, 
Mass.,  in  1913,  has  this  passage:  "One  of  my 
dearest  pictures  on  memory's  wall  is  of  you  in 
your  alcove  room  and  your  smile  of  welcome 
when  I  came  to  call  upon  you.  If  I  were  asked 
for  the  names  of  those  who  had  most  influenced 
me,  yours  would  lead  all  the  rest,  for  your 
teaching  gave  me  a  love  for  history  which  has 
never  left  me." 

Letters  from  the  president  of  Swarthmore  to 
Miss  Sanford  the  year  after  she  went  to  Min- 
nesota show  that  he  felt  the  loss  of  her  influ- 
ence over  the  students.  "The  place  that  thou 
held  is  not  likely  to  be  so  filled  in  this  genera- 
tion. We  sadly  miss  the  zeal  and  enthusiasm 
which  thou  never  failed  to  inspire  in  thy  classes, 


102  MAEIA  SANFORD 

and  in  my  time  I  never  hope  to  see  it  rekindled 
to  the  same  extent.  Need  I  tell  thee  how  much 
I  miss  thy  influence  upon  all  the  students,  and 
especially  upon  the  children  of  the  preparatory 
school.  Few  are  gifted  with  the  power  to  con- 
trol so  effectually  and  withal  so  cheerfully  as 
thou  art,  and  thy  inspiring  influence  upon 
classes  I  sadly  miss.  I  had  a  recent  conversa- 
tion with  a  teacher  who  had  trouble  with  cer- 
tain students,  and  I  advised  her  to  go  into  the 
classroom  always  in  a  kindly  frame  of  mind 
toward  them  if  possible,  and  try  the  effect.  She 
reported  to  me  that  she  observed  a  complete 
change  in  these  students.  Besides  many  other 
valuable  things  I  learned  this  principle  of  gov- 
ernment especially  from  thee." 

Another  factor  which  few  people  knew  any- 
thing about  caused  Miss  Sanford  heartache  and 
despair.  In  a  letter  to  an  intimate  friend  writ- 
ten in  1875  is  this  significant  passage : 

"With  me  as  the  years  go  by,  I  feel  that  I  am 
losing  hope.  I  feel  less  strong,  less  confident, 
less  sure  of  what  I  am,  of  what  I  can  do,  of  the 
good  in  what  I  have  done,  and  even  in  what  I 
have  hoped  for.  This  seems  to  me  the  saddest 
of  all  the  losses  which  the  years  have  brought. 
Mrs.  Browning  has  expressed  this  beautifully 
in  these  lines  from  The  Lost  Bower : 


MAEIA  SANFOBD  103 

I  have  lost  the  dream  of  Doing, 
And  the  other  dream  of  Done. 

But  in  spite  of  all  these  things  I  hold  that  we 
may  and  should  be  glad  and  rejoice ;  if  we  have 
done  earnest,  faithful  work,  we  have  a  right  to 
triumph,  to  rejoice  over  our  success. " 

Miss  Sanford  was  at  this  time  thirty-eight 
years  old.  She  was  now  to  undergo  the  most 
tragic  of  all  her  experiences  at  Swarthmore, 
and  the  one  which  must  have  been  finally  the 
deciding  factor  in  her  resignation.  Soon  after 
the  letter  just  quoted  above,  she  experienced  a 
memorable  event  which  colored  all  her  later 
life.  September  24, 1875,  was  ever  after  to  her 
and  one  other  member  of  the  faculty  of  Swarth- 
more a  day  to  be  referred  to  again  and  again  as 
a  wonderful  day.  She  loved  and  was  loved  lay 
a  colleague  with  whom  marriage  was  impossi- 
ble. Even  to  a  woman  of  Miss  Sanford 's  lofty 
soul  and  iron  courage  the  five  remaining  years 
at  Swarthmore  must  have  been  little  short  of 
torture.  During  these  years  she  disciplined 
herself  constantly  by  writing  mottoes  and 
"thoughts"  for  her  guidance.  As  they  are  the 
chief  means  by  which  she  revealed  the  inner 
working  of  her  nature  some  of  them  are  quoted. 
Miss  Sanford  was  not  a  voluminous  letter 


104  MARIA  SANFORD 

writer,  seldom  writing  except  upon  business 
matters.  One  motto  which  she  gave  to  the  man 
she  loved  he  referred  to  twenty-five  years  later. 
"The  cabalistic  'After  suffering,  glory'  brought 
a  new  peace  to  my  mind. ' '  And  at  a  later  time. 
"Thy  motto  is  often  before  me  in  dark  and 
cheerless  days,  'After  suffering,  glory!' 

That  Miss  Sanford's  great  soul  was  stirred 
to  its  depths  is  shown  in  the  poignant  memoran- 
dum she  made  out  for  her  .guidance  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  year  1876 :  "I  thank  thee,  oh  my 
God,  for  light.  'Till  death  us  part'  it  shall  be 
true.  I  can  work  for  him,  seek  his  happiness, 
live  for  him ;  and  receive  no  sign.  Shall  I  not 
then  be  his  good  angel  I  That  will  not  be  cold- 
ness, but  the  fullness  of  unselfish  love.  0  God 
help  me!  My  heart  shall  not  grow  cold  for  I 
will  keep  it  warm  with  sympathy  and  love  for 
others.  I  will  throw  my  whole  soul  into  my  pro- 
fession. Oh  it  is  hard  but  it  is  the  rugged  path 
that  leads  upward  always." 

The  next  day  there  was  merely  this  sentence : 
"The  book  is  sealed." 

A  few  months  later  appeared  the  following : 
"To  be  read  daily  three  times.  To  myself. 
Goodness  and  truth  and  purity  never  fail  to  win 
love  and  esteem.  The  utmost  kindness  that  a 
sister  could  give." 


MAEIA  SANFORD  105 

Students  and  friends  knew  at  times  that  Miss 
Sanford  was  suffering,  but  none  knew  all  the 
causes  of  her  trouble.  Girls  who  roomed  near 
her  heard  her  walking  and  talking  to  herself  in 
her  room  at  night,  and  knew  that  their  beloved 
professor  was  greatly  distressed.  Older  friends 
saw  her  suffering  in  her  face.  But  for  some 
years  she  struggled  on,  finding  strength  in  strik- 
ing out  for  herself  the  ''thoughts"  which  kept 
her  on  her  upward  path.  Some  of  these,  clearly 
have  reference  to  the  enemy  who  had  caused  her 
such  unhappiness:  "Success  depends  on  pa- 
tience. The  patient  are  those  who  have  learned 
to  suffer ;  who  have  learned  to  fall  and  rise  again. 
What  matter  if  others  triumph  outwardly? 
Unless  they  can  lead  us  also  to  give  way  to 
jealousy  and  hatred  they  have  not  really  tri- 
umphed. But  if  we  seek  to  retaliate  then  we 
place  ourselves  on  their  level  and  are  indeed 
conquered.  Keep  to  the  upper  path !  Make  your 
success  consist  in  the  growth  and  beauty  of 
your  own  soul ;  then  there  can  be  no  humiliation 
from  others.  What  they  would  make  such  but 
strengthens  your  virtue  through  the  effort  to 
resist  the  temptation  to  hatred  and  revenge." 

"My  citadel  is  my  character,  and  this  they 
cannot  reach  unless  they  can  tempt  me  to  envy 
and  hatred.  I  will  not  stoop  to  this." 


106  MARIA  SANFORD 

"Let  others  wear  their  laurels  undisturbed; 
win  yours  in  a  field  their  petty  souls  cannot 
enter.  Be  what  they  would  seem,  and  the  calm 
dignity  of  real  wealth  shall  be  yours." 

"It  makes  no  difference  what  others  have 
that  I  have  not.  I  am  happy  in  the  abundance 
that  I  have,  and  in  the  privilege  of  contributing 
to  the  happiness  of  others." 

"We  should  be  ever  seeking  to  grow  in  the 
direction  of  all  good." 

"It  is  a  glorious  thing  to  be  the  friend  of 
the  unfortunate." 

* '  Put  all  your  soul  into  your  work. ' ' 

* '  There  come  to  us  sometimes  visions  of  duty 
from  which  we  shrink ;  we  can  do  much,  but  not 
this;  we  cannot  nerve  ourselves  to  take  'The 
last  hard  footsteps  of  that  iron  crag'  which  we 
have  climbed  with  weary  feet.  But  if  we  tri- 
umph in  this,  rise  above  our  weakness  and  fol- 
low the  clear  vision  though  all  our  selfishness 
would  drag  us  down,  we  shall  indeed  find  'After 
suffering,  glory'." 

She  gathered  strength  at  this  time  from  one 
of  the  type  of  books  which  she  had  resolved  as  a 
young  girl  never  to  waste  time  in  reading.  Some 
quotations  from  an  anonymous  novel  published 
in  1864  under  the  title  of  Annie  and  Her  Mas- 
ter evidently  related  experiences  similar  in  some 


MARIA  SANFORD  107 

respects  to  her  own.  "I  have  done  the  work 
I  felt  called  on  to  do  in  the  way  that  it  was 
truest  to  myself  to  do  it;  with  the  rest  I  have 
no  concern." 

"The  words  were  nothing;  the  tone  of  such 
deep  and  strong  tenderness  was  everything.  Is 
it  unbeautiful  that  an  unreasoning  fidelity  of  al- 
legiance should  endow  with  something  of  the 
dearness  of  the  man  who  so  loves  her,  all  things 
that  are  or  have  been  his !  He  does  not  love  with 
the  self-seeking  passion  some  men  call  love,  but 
with  a  love,  the  strongest  desire  of  which  is  the 
good  and  happiness  of  what  he  loves." 

The  strain  after  some  years  told  too  much  on 
Miss  Sanford,  until  in  1879  she  resigned  at  the 
close  of  the  college  year,  without  knowing  what 
she  wras  going  to  do  next.  Something  of  what 
this  step  cost  her  is  recorded  in  a  note  she  wrote 
soon  afterward:  "My  resignation  was  the 
fierce  grasp  of  one  drowning  after  something 
stable,  the  attempt  for  mastery  of  one  whose 
brain  was  reeling.  But  that  awful  struggle  was 
the  crisis,  and  it  brought  me  peace.  There  are 
still  moments  when  I  give  way,  but  calm  reason 
is  sure  to  triumph." 

Some  years  later  a  woman  wrote  to  a  friend 
about  Miss  Sanford:  "It  sometimes  seems  to 
me  that  some  people  are  sacrificed  at  Swarth 


108  MARIA  SANFOBD 

more.  There  was  great  power  in  Miss  Sanford. 
And  how  she  worked  and  fought  for  others! 
I  know  a  time  when  she  suffered  tortures  at 
Swarthmore;  I  could  see  it  in  every  feature. 
For  her  to  leave  there  heart-broken  as  she  was, 
and  then  rally  all  her  forces  and  achieve  the 
success  that  she  has  since  achieved  shows  a 
power  which  very  few  women  possess.  I  feel 
deep  interest  in  her  welfare,  and  believe  that 
under  some  circumstances  she  might  have  re- 
mained forever  at  Swarthmore." 

And  that  she  achieved  what  she  set  herself  to 
do  in  regard  to  the  man  who  loved  her  is  testi- 
fied to  in  a  sentence  from  a  letter  some  years 
after  she  left  Swarthmore :  * '  Thy  blessed  influ- 
ence, when  around  and  ever  near  me  in  those 
memorable  years  that  are  gone,  did  more  than 
aught  else  in  those  days  to  make  and  keep  me 
worthy. ' ' 

For  twenty  years  after  Maria  Sanford  went 
to  the  University  of  Minnesota  this  friendship 
was  kept  up  through  correspondence.  Her  ad- 
vice was  asked  about  the  careers  of  his  chil- 
dren ;  her  sympathy  for  the  death  of  a  member 
of  his  family.  And  when  it  became  possible, 
after  Miss  Sanford  was  past  sixty  years  of  age, 
he  pleaded  with  her  to  become  his  wife.  But 
Miss  Sanford,  although  she  never  told  her  rea- 
sons for  refusing,  doubtless  felt  that  she  must 


MARIA  SANFORD  109 

not  burden  any  one  else  with  the  great  debt  she 
had  set  herself,  in  the  eighties,  to  pay  to  the 
uttermost  farthing.  The  debt  had  been  con- 
tracted after  she  had  been  some  years  in  Min- 
nesota; and  the  paying  of  the  money  occupied 
her  until  she  was  eighty  years  of  age. 

It  was  a  tremendous  thing  to  decide  to  leave 
Swarthmore  after  ten  years  of  work  there. 
Miss  Sanford  was  forty-three  years  of  age,  an 
age  when  many  women  hesitate  to  make  a 
change  from  a  certainty  to  an  uncertainty;  an 
age  which  at  that  time  was  called  a  dead-line 
for  teachers.  Her  emotions  were  wrought  to  a 
high  pitch  of  intensity.  While  she  hesitated  in 
doubt  she  had  an  experience  which  she  regarded 
as  an  omen,  and  which  decided  her  to  go.  She 
was  so  unused  to  such  experiences  that  this  one 
always  remained  clear  in  her  mind.  She  had  a 
dream  in  which  she  was  standing  at  one  end  of 
a  long,  curving  bridge  whose  further  end  was 
lost  in  mist.  While  she  stood  there  wondering 
if  she  should  cross  into  the  unknown,  her  mother 
appeared  at  the  other  end  and  beckoned  her 
across.  She  regarded  the  vision  as  intended  for 
her  guidance,  and  thereafter  had  no  doubt  of 
what  she  was  to  do.  She  told  a  friend  late  in  life 
that  it  was  the  only  experience  of  the  kind  she 
had  ever  had. 


CHAPTER  IV 


In  1879  Miss  Sanford  left  Swarthmore  for 
a  year,  and  busied  herself  lecturing.  The 
following  summer  when  President  Folwell  of 
the  University  of  Minnesota  went  east  to 
secure  additional  members  for  the  faculty  of 
the  rapidly  growing  young  western  institu- 
tion, he  met  at  Chautauqua  among  others 
Maria  Sanford,  and  after  half  an  hour's  talk 
decided  that  he  wanted  her  on  his  faculty.  He 
had  seen  her  work  at  Swarthmore  when  he, 
visited  a  friend  on  the  faculty  who  took  him  to 
the  classroom  of  the  enthusiastic  professor  of 
history.  In  later  years,  long  after  his  own 
and  Miss  Sanford 's  retirement,  he  expressed 
himself  as  proud  of  having  "discovered"  Miss 
Sanford  for  the  University  of  Minnesota. 

In  1880,  the  trip  from  Pennsylvania  to  Min- 
nesota to  one  who  had  never  been  farther  west 
than  the  Middle  Atlantic  states,  was  like  go- 
ing into  the  wilderness,  but  Miss  Sanford  was 
of  adventuring  spirit,  and  to  her  the  new  land 

110 


MARIA  SANFORD  111 

seemed  full  of  promise.  She  brought  with 
her  a  young  niece  who  had  been  attending 
Swarthmore  college.  For  the  first  year  they 
boarded,  and  the  niece  became  a  student  at  the 
University.  At  that  time  the  entire  academic 
college  was  housed  in  one  building,  known  to 
students  of  later  years  as  the  "Old  Main." 
There  was  a  faculty  of  eighteen.  Miss  San- 
ford,  made  assistant  professor  of  rhetoric  and 
elocution  that  first  year,  was  the  only  woman 
of  that  rank  in  the  faculty.  The  first  year 
there  were  only  seventeen  graduates  in  the 
three  colleges  of  the  University.  The  second 
year  Miss  Sanford  was  made  a  full  professor 
of  rhetoric  and  elocution.  The  college  was 
growing  but  still  had  a  sub-freshman  class. 
There  were  about  three  hundred  students,  one- 
tenth  of  them  in  the  Senior  class.  Miss  San- 
ford  entered  upon  her  duties  with  such  energy 
and  enthusiasm  that  her  classes  w^ere  very 
large.  She  gave  instruction  in  composition, 
in  rhetoric,  in  elocution  and  oratory  to  sub- 
freshmen,  freshmen,  sophomores,  juniors  and 
seniors.  The  two  upper  classes  were  required 
to  write  two  essays  a  term,  or  to  recite  one 
oral  carefully  prepared.  This  requirement 
Miss  Sanford  in  her  zeal  increased,  until  it 
called  forth  from  the  President  of  the  Univer- 


112  MARIA  SANFORD 

sity  some  years  later  a  letter  in  which  he  said, 
''Complaint  is  made  by  the  students  of  the 
Junior  class,  and  by  members  of  the  faculty 
who  instruct  the  Junior  class,  that  the  work 
required  in  the  rhetorical  department  is  in  ex- 
cess of  what  is  stipulated  or  designated  in  the 
catalogue, — that  instead  of  two  essays  a  term, 
the  students  are  required  to  write  one  a  week, 
and  that  in  consequence  they  are  too  much 
burdened.  I  called  to  see  you,  but  you  were 
not  in.  I,  therefore,  lay  the  matter  before 
you."  To  students  at  the  University  of  Min- 
nesota at  the  present  time  those  requirements 
would  seem  very  small,  as  for  more  than  a 
decade  freshman  students  have  been  required 
to  write  at  least  two  themes  a  week.  This  de- 
tail is  of  interest  because  there  were  students 
as  well  as  members  of  the  faculty  during  Miss 
Sanford's  three  decades  of  teaching  who 
thought  that  she  gave  too  little  work  to  her 
classes.  She  was  perhaps  influenced  by  being 
criticised  so  early  in  her  course  for  the  oppo 
site  reason. 

Here  as  always  Miss  Sanford  never  spared 
herself.  She  gave  her  time,  her  interest  and 
her  encouragement  from  early  morning  until 
late  at  night,  wherever  or  whenever  students 
needed  her.  She  frequently  drilled  students 


MARIA   SANFORD 
The  Minnesota  Pioneer 


MARIA  SANFORD  113 

at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  for  oratorical 
contests.  One  District  Court  Judge  in  Minne- 
sota, who  was  one  of  her  early  students  recalls 
her  work  with  him.  He  says,  "She  was  not 
only  my  instructor  in  a  very  large  per  cent,  of 
work  during  my  years  of  school,  but  in  addi- 
tion we  were  very  close  personal  friends.  She 
did  me  many  favors  totally  disconnected  with 
school  Work,  which  materially  shaped  my  fu- 
ture activities.  When  she  first  came  to  the 
University,  I  was  in  the  freshman  year.  Miss 
Sanford  was  splendidly  equipped  for  the  long 
period  of  exacting  work  upon  which  she  at  that 
time  entered.  She  seemed  never  to  tire.  She 
was  continually  alert  mentally  and  physically. 
Her  cheerfulness  never  failed.  Her  patience 
seemed  never  exhausted.  She  had  a  keen  sense 
of  humor,  which  frequently  tided  over  difficult 
situations.  I  never  knew  her  to  use  an  unkind 
or  discouraging  word  to  a  student." 

Another  student  of  those  early  days,  a 
former  mayor  of  Minneapolis,  says  of  her: 
"Students  in  the  University  on  those  days 
were  constantly  quoting  Miss  Sanford.  Her 
methods  of  teaching  were  unique  and  original 
and  she  obtained  a  good  amount  of  work  from 
her  students  because  they  liked  to  please  her. 
She  had  great  enthusiasm  and  deep  sympathy 


114  MARIA  SANFORD 

for  those  who  especially  needed  her  guidance. 
In  her  classes  there  never  was  a  dull  moment. 
Who  cannot  remember  those  impassioned  re- 
citals of  those  poems  which  appealed  to  her! 
I  admit  it  was  hard  to  keep  tears  from  coming 
to  my  eyes,  as  they  did  to  her  own  eyes,  when 
she  repeated  The  Angels  of  Buena  Vista.  I 
think  Miss  Sanford  put  more  soul  into  her 
work  than  any  other  teacher  I  have  known. 
There  was  always  a  spiritual  and  uplifting 
note  in  her  work.  She  helped  me  in  giving  me 
special  training  in  speaking.  How  often  she 
asked  me  to  come  in  her  spare  hour  and  re- 
hearse to.  her  over  and  over  again  some  ora- 
tion I  was  to  deliver.  There  was  no  limit  to 
the  amount  of  work  she  would  do  for  an  indi- 
vidual student.  Years  later  when  I  had  be- 
come deeply  involved  in  a  local  political  cam- 
paign in  Minneapolis,  I  was  obliged  to  do  a 
great  deal  of  public  speaking.  Miss  Sanford 
watched  my  course  with  interest.  One  morn- 
ing she  came  to  me  to  my  office  saying  she  had 
read  the  substance  of  an  address  which  I  had 
given  the  night  before,  which  included  liberal 
quotations.  She  remarked  that  she  was  sorry 
to  find,  if  the  report  was  true,  a  grammatical 
error  which  was  unworthy  of  me  and  which 
she  hoped  I  would  not  make  again.  She  then 


MAKIA  SANFOBD  115 

gave  me  some  good  advice  about  the  use  of  my 
voice  in  large  halls.  Then,  laughingly  apolo- 
gizing for  her  gratuitous  criticism,  she  went 
on  her  way,  no  doubt  on  some  other  errand  of 
goodness  and  kindness." 

As  it  was  uncommon  in  those  days  for  a 
woman  to  drill  young  men  in  oratory,  the  meth- 
ods she  used  are  of  interest.  She  was  no  mean 
orator  herself.  Her  voice  was  magnificently 
trained,  and  her  methods  were  those  of  com- 
mon sense.  She  drilled  her  students  to  ex- 
press their  thoughts  adequately.  She  had  no 
stiff  method  of  elocution  or  gesture.  If  a  stu- 
dent did  not  want  to  make  gestures  she  never 
tried  to  make  him  do  so,  remarking  often  that 
many  of  the  best  speakers  she  had  ever  heard 
stood  still  on  the  platform,  while  some  of  the 
worst  she  ever  knew  about  could  saw  the  air 
more  violently  than  Hamlet 's  players. 

Miss  Sanford  did  not  drill  her  students  in 
elocution  alone.  Taking  their  essays  and  ora- 
tions she  went  through  them  laboriously  and 
severely;  never  if  she  could  help  it  did  she  ap- 
prove an  oration  which  did  not  have  something 
to  say.  Her  wide  acquaintance  with  history 
and  economics  fitted  her  to  guide  and  criticise 
in  a  masterful  manner,  whether  a  student 
wished  to  discuss  Demosthenes  or  free  trade. 


116  MARIA  SANFORD 

In  Miss  Sanford's  third  year  at  the  Univer- 
sity she  added  to  her  duties  the  work  of  the 
department  of  English,  the  head  of  which  was 
taken  sick  and  later  died.  She  did  the  work 
so  well  that  President  Folwell  publicly  thanked 
her  for  the  wonderful  way  in  which  she  had 
handled  it.  The  following  year  a  new  man 
was  called  to  the  head  of  that  department,  and 
Miss  Sanford  returned  to  her  own  work  as 
Professor  of  Rhetoric  and  Elocution. 

Early  in  the  eighties  .there  came  the  first 
great  crisis  in  the  history  of  the  young  Uni- 
versity. There  was  considerable  suspicion  in 
the  state  that  the  Agricultural  department  was 
a  college  merely  on  paper,  and  was  of  little  use 
to  the  farmers  of  the  state  in  any  material 
way.  The  state  Legislature  proposed  to  sepa- 
rate it  from  the  University  and  make  it  an  in- 
dependent institution.  The  President  of  the 
University,  feeling  that  it  would  be  a  calamity 
to  have  the  colleges  separated,  and  believing 
that  the  Agricultural  College  met  a  real  need, 
made  before  the  legislature  a  telling  plea.  Then 
with  the  aid  of  Mr.  0.  C.  Gegg  he  inaugurated  a 
system  of  farmers '  institutes  and  asked  some  of 
the  professors  of  the  University  to  visit  them 
and  familiarize  the  farmers  with  the  work  of  the 
college.  Among  these  speakers  was  Miss  San- 


MAEIA  SANFOED  117 

ford.  She  had  already  begun  her  work  as  a 
public  speaker  in  Minnesota  by  teaching  at  the 
close  of  her  first  college  year  in  the  teachers' 
institute  at  Excelsior.  Now  she  was  asked  to 
speak  to  the  farmers'  wives,  while  the  men  on 
the  faculty  spoke  to  the  farmers  themselves: 
and  her  talks,  which  were  always  homely  and 
to  the  point,  became  so  popular  that  the  halls 
in  which  she  spoke  soon  became  too  crowded. 
At  one  place,  when  she  reached  the  town  hall, 
she  found  the  stairs  and  the  entrance  so 
crowded  that  she  could  not  get  into  the  room 
where  she  was  to  speak ;  with  a  friend  she  went 
outside  to  a  window  above  the  platform  on 
which  she  was  to  stand.  A  ladder  was  procured 
and  Miss  Sanford  entered  the  room  through 
the  window,  to  the  enthusiastic  applause  of  all 
present.  Her  favorite  talk  on  these  occasions 
entitled  How  to  Make  Home  Happy  proceeded 
after  this  fashion:  "  'But,'  says  this  mother, 
on  whose  forehead  the  wrinkles  are  becoming 
deeply  set,  'If  I  were  only  rich  and  could  have 
things  comfortable,  I'd  be  as  good-natured  as 
anybody ;  but  that  old  broken  stove — and  Josiah 
will  leave  the  door  open,  and  he  knows  it  makes 
it  smoke.' 

"My  good  woman,  did  you  ever  think  that 
those  who  have  all  these  disagreeable  things  to 


118  MARIA  SANFOED 

bear  need  all  the  more  to  have  cheerful  hearts  f 
Have  you  ever  noticed  how  even  a  smoking 
stove  will  brighten  up  and  puts  its  best  foot 
foremost  for  a  pretty,  bright-faced,  smiling 
woman  ?  You  used  to  vbe  pretty,  and  you  are 
not  old.  Suppose  you  try  a  few  bright  smiles 
and  kind  words  on  the  old  stove  and  on  Josiah. 
As  for  this  matter  of  riches,  ( the  bottom  plank 
of  my  belief  is  'money  cannot  make  a  happy 
home.' 

During  one  of  the  institutes  a  railway  strike 
occurred  and  interrupted  the  train  service.  For 
several  days  there  were  no  trains  of  any  kind. 
Miss  Sanford  had  an  engagement  to  lecture 
forty  miles  farther  up  the  road.  She  was  de- 
termined to  keep  that  engagement,  and  said  if 
no  train  came  that  day  she  would  start  the  fol- 
lowing day  on  foot.  No  train  came;  and  so, 
carrying  a  little  cloth  bag  containing  only  her 
toilet  articles,  she  started  up  the  track  on  foot. 
Fortunately  by  noon  a  freight  overtook  her 
near  a  station,  and  she  was  allowed  to  ride  in 
the  caboose;  but  had  it  not  come  along  she 
would  have  walked  the  entire  forty  miles. 

In  1889  enough  information  had  been  dissem- 
inated among  the  farmers  of  the  state  so  that 
the  Legislature  passed  a  resolution  "That  the 
unity  of  the  several  departments  of  the  Uni- 


MARIA  SANFORD  119 

versity  shall  always  be  preserved  and  that  the 
Agricultural  College  shall  be  maintained  as  an 
important  department.  Resolved  that  we  here- 
by convey  the  individual  pledge  of  the  members 
of  this  Legislature  that  the  interests  of  the 
University  shall  be  carefully  guarded  in  the 
future."  This  resolution,  engraved  upon  a 
large  parchment,  was  framed  and  presented 
to  the  University.  It  was  hung  in  a  conspicu- 
ous place  in  a  new  building,  Pillsbury  Hall,  pre- 
sented to  the  University  by  Governor  Pillsbury 
in  recognition  of  this  action.  Throughout  this 
crisis  Professor  Sanford  rendered  valuable 
service.  Many  years  later  a  former  student 
wrote  to  Miss  Sanford:  "We  remember  a 
time  when  the  University  was  not  popular  as  it 
is  now,  when  it  was  hard  to  get  appropriations 
for  it,  but  when  one  wroman  went  about  in  our 
state  and  interested  people  in  the  institution 
through  her  own  personality,  and  we  shall  not 
forget  it." 

The  outside  work  that  Miss  Sanford  did  made 
it  necessary  for  her  to  have  some  of  her  class 
work  at  unusual  hours.  For  many  years  she 
conducted  a  class  called  "Maria's  sunrise 
class."  The  ordinary  professor  who  had  felt 
obliged  to  have  a  class  at  half-past  seven  o  'clock 
in  the  morning  would  probably  have  asked  the 


120  MARIA  SANFOED 

weak  students  to  attend  the  class.  That  would 
have  been  in  the  nature  of  a  punishment,  and 
the  class  would  have  been  a  drag.  But  Miss 
Sanf ord  was  tactful  enough  to  ask  the  very  best 
students  to  her  sunrise  class ;  it  was  felt  to  be  a 
great  honor  to  be  selected  as  a  member.  One 
student,  recalling  her  experience  a  quarter  of  a 
century  later,  said:  " How  clearly  I  remember 
the  cold  and  shivering  discomfort  I  underwent 
starting  from  my  distant  home  before  daylight 
for  that  early  class!  The  other  students  as 
they  assembled  were  equally  uncomfortable. 
How  as  Miss  Sanford  came  sailing  into  the 
room  we  forgot  all  about  chilblains  and  frost- 
bite in  her  brightness  and  enthusiasm!" 

At  these  early  sessions  no  students  enjoyed 
more  than  did  the  professor  herself  anything 
that  brought  a  moment  of  relief  to  the  routine. 
One  morning  when  the  members  of  the  famous 
class  were  called  on  to  give  their  daily  quota- 
tions the  first  one  repeated  the  first  stanza  of 
the  poem  Early  Eising,  by  John  Gr.  Saxe. 

God  bless  the  man  who  first  invented  sleep ! 

So  Sancho  Panza  said  and  so  say  I. 
And  bless  him  also  that  he  didn't  keep 

His  great  discovery  to  himself;  nor  try 
To  make  it — as  the  lucky  fellow  might — 

A  close  monopoly  by  patent  right ! 


MARIA  SANFORD  121 

Miss  Sanford's  head  went  up,  her  eyes 
sparkled,  and  her  face  kindled  into  animation. 
When  the  next  student  went  on  with  the  second 
stanza,  she  manifested  the  keenest  enjoyment: 

Yes,  bless  the  man  who  first  invented  sleep 
(I  really  can't  avoid  the  iteration.) 

But  blast  the  man,  with  curses  loud  and  deep, 

Whate'er  the  rascal's  name,  or  age,  or  station, 

Who  first  invented,  and  went  round  advising 
That  artificial  cut-off,  early  rising! 

And  when  the  eighth  student  finished  the 
eighth  and  last  stanza  she  was  convulsed  with 
mirth. 

Miss  Sanford's  class  room  in  the  Old  Main 
building  at  first  was  a  small  dark  room  which 
the  students  considered  very  unpleasant;  but 
perhaps  no  other  room  ever  received  so  much 
of  the  professor's  affection.  Long  after  it  had 
been  burned  and  another  raised  above  its 
ashes,  she  recorded  her  memories  of  it:  "The 
Old  Main  was  not  a  beautiful  building  archi- 
tecturally, though  when  from  the  other  side  of 
the  river  one  caught  a  glimpse  of  its  cupola  ris- 
ing from  the  rich  green  foliage  of  oaks  sur- 
rounding it,  the  view  was  by  no  means  unat- 
tractive. ...  I  well  remember  the  little 
room  beyond  the  stairs  where  I  for  years  met 
my  classes,  a  room  so  hard  to  ventilate,  I  often 


122  MARIA  SANFORD 

thought  with  my  cranky  love  for  fresh  air, — 
so  often  over-ventilated,  as  the  shivering  stu- 
dents thought  as  they  met  there  the  freezing 
wind  straight  from  the  north  pole.  How  viv- 
idly I  recall  the  members  of  those  early  classes, 
so  many  of  them  the  tried  and  trusted  friends 
of  today,  and  some,  with  their  eager  hopes  and 
brief  ambitions  passed  to  the  distant  land. 
Those  days  spent  in  the  little,  dark,  cold  class 
room  were  to  me  bright  and  beautiful  years. 
Years  of  prosperity  and  increasing  numbers 
of  students  and  new  buildings  robbed  the  Old 
Main  of  its  dignity  as  President's  office,  library, 
and  chapel,  and  gave  to  me  the  more  commodi- 
ous front  room  for  my  classes,  but  though  the 
oaks  were  beautiful  as  seen  from  its  windows, 
and  the  distant  view  of  the  river  at  sunset  glori- 
ous, this  room  never  had  quite  the  charm  of  the 
dingy  little  room  beyond  the  stairs.  They  had 
delightful  associations  which  could  not  be  trans- 
ferred. ' ' 

Miss  Sanford  wrote  this  years  after  the 
building  had  burned.  She  closed  her  somewhat 
pathetic  memories  with  a  characteristic  note: 
"I  should  not  be  true  to  all  my  memories  if  I 
did  not  record  that  when  the  fire  finally  took 
the  Old  Main,  and  I  stood  outside  watching  the 
destruction,  not  only  of  the  building  but  of 


MAEIA  SANFOED  123 

books  and  pictures  which  were  precious  to  me, 
I  could  not  repress  a  feeling  of  satisfaction  as 
I  thought  of  the  millions  of  cockroaches  being 
consumed  in  that  holocaust." 

The  love  of  fresh  air  to  which  she  referred  in 
her  writing  of  the  Old  Main  was  amusingly 
illustrated  by  an  incident  which  occurred  early 
in  the  eighties.  During  one  winter's  vacation, 
when  the  fires  were  allowed  to  run  low,  and  her 
work  did  not,  Miss  Sanford  secured  permission 
to  have  a  wood  stove  put  in  her  study  on  the 
first  floor  of  the  Old  Main.  One  afternoon  fire 
was  discovered.  It  had  evidently  started  from 
a  defective  flue  in  Miss  Sanford's  stove.  Con- 
siderable damage  was  done  by  the  fire,  and  more 
by  the  deluge  of  water  that  soaked  every  part 
of  the  building.  A  special  meeting  of  the  fac- 
ulty was  called  to  consider  how  to  care  for 
classes  during  the  period  when  repairs  were 
being  made.  The  boilers  had  been  started  with 
the  idea  of  drying  out  the  building;  and  the 
president's  office,  where  the  faculty  meeting 
was  being  held,  was  as  steamy  as  a  Turkish 
bath.  Finally  she  could  stand  it  no  longer  and 
said,  "President  Northrop,  is  it  not  possible 
for  us  to  have  some  fresh  air  in  this  room?" 
President  Northrop  replied, — "Yes,  Miss  San- 
ford,  we  might  let  you  have  another  stove." 


124  MARIA  SANFORD 

The  second  year  of  her  work  in  Minneapolis 
Miss  Sanford  went  into  her  own  home,  which 
she  later  bought,  and  in  which  she  lived  until 
a  few  years  before  her  retirement.  In  spite  of 
this  she  spent  many  of  her  working  hours  out- 
side the  class  in  her  office  in  the  Old  Main  build- 
ing. There  she  retired  on  Sunday  afternoons 
for  quiet  and  reading.  There  she  worked  even- 
ings when  she  was  not  away  lecturing.  There 
she  even,  upon  occasion,  stayed  all  night  and 
slept  on  a  couch  in  her  private  office.  The 
elderly  night  watchman  would  see  a  feeble  light 
glimmering  in  the  front  windows  of  the  Old 
Main  and  would  feel  it  necessary  to  investigate 
for  fear  of  fire.  Time  after  time  he  found 
Miss  Sanford  working  late  at  night ;  and  finally 
for  her  own  safety,  as  well  as  for  that  of  the 
building,  she  was  asked  not  to  spend  the  night 
in  her  office.  She  had  the  misfortune,  however, 
after  she  had  been  in  Minneapolis  a  few  years, 
to  fall  on  the  ice  and  hurt  her  back  in  such  a 
way  that  she  could  not  leave  her  bed  for  a  con- 
siderable time.  The  doctor,  in  fact,  told  her 
that  she  would  never  be  able  to  walk  again. 
Miss  Sanford  did  not  propose  to  accept  any 
such  decree.  She  ordered  a  dray  and  had  her 
mattress  taken  to  her  office  at  the  University, 
and  herself  transported  to  the  same  place  and 


MARIA  SANFORD  125 

there  she  stayed  nights  as  well  as  days  until  she 
was  able  to  go  back  and  forth.  She  would  get 
into  the  class  room  for  her  class  work  and  then 
return  to  the  office,  where  she  would  hold  her 
conferences  with  her  students.  In  this  way  she 
kept  her  work  going  in  regular  order. 

In  spite  of  sickness,  college  work  and  public 
lectures,  the  professor  gave  her  home  more  at- 
tention than  do  many  people  who  have  no  out- 
side duties.  The  niece  who  had  come  with  her 
to  Minneapolis  finished  her  college  course,  mar- 
ried, and  went  west.  Another  young  niece  fif- 
teen years  of  age  then  came  to  live  with  Miss 
Sanford  and  pursue  her  education.  She  first 
entered  preparatory  school,  and  later  the  Uni- 
versity. Miss  Sanford 's  house  was  commodious 
and  she  at  once  filled  it  with  students,  selecting 
for  the  most  part  young  men  and  women  who 
needed  work  in  order  to  pay  their  own  way 
through  the  University.  She  asked  an  older 
sister  of  the  niece  who  was  attending  college 
to  come  west  as  her  housekeeper.  Each  of  the 
girls  who  lived  with  Miss  Sanford  was  given 
some  duty  to  perform  to  help  pay  for  her 
board:  one  girl  cleaned  the  lamps;  another 
did  the  sweeping  and  dusting;  another  used 
to  help  with  the  washing.  In  this  way  the 
girls  paid  a  large  part  of  their  expenses.  Miss 


126  MARIA  SANFOBD 

Sanf ord  charged  the  young  men  more  for  board 
than  the  women,  because  there  was  less  that 
they  could  do  about  the  house.  The  plan  worked 
out  satisfactorily  as  long  as  Miss  Sanf  ord  lived 
in  that  home.  It  became  so  popular  that  she 
took  a  second  house  near-by  in  which  some  of 
the  boys  and  girls  slept.  She  was  always  insist- 
ent on  the  utmost  cleanliness.  The  rooms  were 
simply  but  well  furnished,  and  were  cheerful 
with  white  curtains.  The  lamps  must  be  shiny, 
and  the  dust  must  be  carefully  removed.  Her 
young  niece  who  was  intrusted  with  the  dusting 
and  with  some  of  the  sweeping,  was  not  tidy  as 
a  girl,  and  when  her  aunt  would  look  sharply 
into  the  corners  and  be  displeased  if  she  found 
dust  the  young  girl  would  quake ;  but  she  found 
a  way  after  such  an  experience  of  reinstating 
herself  in  her  aunt's  good  graces.  She  knew 
that  Miss  Sanford  did  not  like  to  darn  stock- 
ings. When  a  drawerful  of  them  had  accumu- 
lated the  young  girl  would  surreptitiously  put 
them  into  immaculate  order;  and  when  Miss 
Sanford  found  the  stockings  neatly  darned,  the 
culprit  breathed  freely  again. 

Miss  Sanford  went  to  bed  early  and  arose  at 
unearthly  hours  to  work.  Getting  up  at  three 
o'clock  and  finishing  before  breakfast  she  did 
the  washing  for  a  family  of  sixteen  with  the 


MARIA  SANFORD  127 

help  of  a  young  German  girl  who  boarded  there 
for  a  time.  One  morning  two  of  the  girls  wers 
frightened  before  daylight  by  hearing  stealthy 
movements  outside  their  window.  After  shak- 
ing in  their  beds  for  a  time,  one  got  up  courage 
to  creep  near  the  window,  expecting  to  see  a 
burglar  trying  to  enter,  but  found  that  it  was 
merely  Miss  Sanford  washing  the  window  on 
the  outside. 

Another  incident  she  was  fond  of  telling  as  a 
joke  on  herself.  One  night  when  she  was  in 
great  pain  she  decided  that  she  must  go  to  the 
kitchen  to  heat  some  water  for  relief.  As  she 
sat  by  the  stove  waiting  for  the  water  to  heat, 
she  thought  the  kitchen  needed  some  cleaning ; 
and  so  she  took  the  water  heated  and  scrubbed 
the  walls.  The  next  morning  when  she  told 
the  students,  she  laughingly  said  she  forgot  all 
about  the  pain,  and  when  she  got  through  scrub- 
bing was  surprised  to  find  she  was  entirely  well. 

She  worked  outside  her  house  as  well  as  in- 
side. She  sodded  the  lawn  on  her  hands  and 
knees ;  she  set  out  trees  on  the  parking  in  front 
of  her  house  as  an  encouragement  to  the  neigh- 
bors on  the  street  to  do  likewise;  she  piled 
wood  in  her  back  yard  early  in  the  morning. 
One  of  her  colleagues  passing  .by  on  the  side- 
walk one  day  heard  her  cheerful  voice  singing. 


128  MARIA  SANFORD 

" Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow," 
and  just  then  a  stick  of  wood, came  flying  over 
the  fence  almost  in  his  face.  One  thing  she 
could  never  master  was  the  use  of  the  scythe. 
She  was  always  ,so  busy  that  she  hardly  took 
time  to  eat.  She  frequently  came  rushing  to 
the  table  after  the  others  were  seated,  but  she 
did  not  neglect  the  students  at  her  board.  She 
had, a  habit  of  taking  a  book  from  which  she 
read;  and  especially  if  there  was  something 
funny  she  would  read  it  in  order  to  add  cheer- 
fulness to  the  meal. 

She  thought  the  .students  of  those  early  days 
had  too  few  diversions.  There  were  no  sorori- 
ties or  fraternities  then,  and  there  was  no  or- 
ganized recreation  in  the  University  itself,  and 
so  she, encouraged  those  of  her  household  regu- 
larly and  often  to  dance  on  the  parlor  floors  of 
which  she  was  so  careful.  She  would  have 
them  roll  up  the  rugs  and  set  back  the  furniture 
and  would  watch  and  applaud  a  recreation  in 
which  she  herself  had  never  indulged.  One 
time  only  did  some  of  the  students  get  Miss 
Sanf ord  to  enter  somewhat  into  their  fun.  Her 
students  had  never  seen  her  in  anything  but 
plain  black ;  but  one  evening  some  of  the  girls 
prevailed  upon  her  to  dress  up  in  a  beautiful 
gown  of  the  Governor's  wife.  They  arranged 


MARIA  SANFORD  129 

Miss  Sanf  ord 's  hair  in  the  prevailing  style, 
and  decorated  it  with  a  rose.  She  descended 
to  the  parlor,  a  perfect  stranger  to  every  one. 
who  saw  her.  Even  her  young. niece  failed  to 
recognize  her  aunt,  and  when  the  young  men  in 
the  house  learned  that  it  was  Miss  Sanf  ord  they 
were  so  astonished  that, they  asked  her  why  she 
didn  't  always  dress  that  way.  Her  own  niece  had 
never  before  realized  that  her  aunt  was  beauti- 
ful. Miss  Sanford  was  so  pleased  with  their 
appreciation  that  she  ordered  a  dress  made  by 
the  same  dressmaker  but  soon  returned  to  her 
severe  black,  which  she  wore  up  to  the  time  of 
her  death. 

Although  she  wanted  her  household  to  have 
sufficient  recreation,  she  felt  great  responsibil- 
ity for  their  moral  welfare.  One  woman  has 
never  forgotten  how  bad  she  felt  about  disobey- 
ing Miss  Sanf  ord 's  express  wish  that  no  one 
should  leave  the  house  late  in  the  evening  with- 
out her  knowledge.  This  young  girl  went  coast- 
ing one  evening  at  ten  o'clock  with  some  of  the 
other  students  without  telling  the  professor. 
That  evening  there  was  an  accident,  and  in  this 
way  Miss  Sanford  learned  of  the  escapade.  She 
called  the  girls  together  and  gave  them  a  serious 
talk  which  left  them  thoroughly  repentant. 


130  MARIA  SANFORD 

Iii  addition  to  the  students  a  little  lame  boy 
from  the  reform  school  came  into  the  family  to 
stay  for  awhile.  She  did  so  much  for  him  that 
many  years  later,  a  middle  aged  man,  he  wrote 
to  her  from  a  neighboring  city  telling  her  how 
much  he  owed  to  her  help  and  how  he  was  try- 
ing to  rear  his  own  boys  in  the  way  she  had 
taught  him. 

About  this  time  she  helped  also  a  family  of 
entire  strangers  who  were  friends  of  another 
professor  at  the  University.  The  husband,  a 
minister,  had  broken  down  in  health,  and  his 
wife  was  planning  to  go  with  him  to  Colorado 
when  her  friend  wrote  to  her  to  try  Minnesota, 
and  to  go  to  Miss ,  Sanf ord,  one  of  the  biggest 
hearted  women  living,  who  would  be  a  mother 
to  the  family.  Miss  Sanford  found  a  house  for 
them,  and  helped  the  wife  to  iind  enough  stu- 
dents to  fill  up  her  house,  so  that  she  could  earn 
her  living,  and  bring  the  children  to  the  west. 
After  the  family  was  settled  in  the  city  Miss 
Sanford  became  a  true  neighbor.  More  than 
once  on  Sunday  evenings  after  sitting  awhile 
with  them  she  would  say,  "Where  are  the 
clothes  1 ' '  and  with  a  cheery  word  would  carry 
off  the  wash  and  do  it  herself  on  Monday  be- 
fore going  to  the  University. 

During  these  years,  Miss  Sanford  lectured 


MARIA  SANFOKD  131 

some  -winters  four  or  five  nights  each  week  all 
winter,  traveling  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  miles 
for  each  lecture,  yet  never  missing  a  class  at 
the  University.  As  she  was  more  and  more 
sought  as  a  speaker,  the  people  of  the  state 
came  to  understand  that  she  must  travel  at 
night  in  order  not  to  miss  her  classes;  and  so 
when  they  thought  of  asking  Miss  Sanford  to 
lecture,  the  first  question  was,  "Is  there  a  night 
train  for  her?"  In  these  night  travels  she 
never  took  a  sleeper,  but  curled  up  on  the  seat 
of  a  day  coach,  where,  she  insisted,  she  was 
perfectly  comfortable.  She  would  go  directly 
from  the  station  to  her  class  room  for  her  early 
morning  work,  as  fresh  as  if  she  had  gone  from 
her  home  three  blocks  away. 


CHAPTER   V 
CHRISTIAN'S  BURDEN 

Among  Miss  Sanford's  students  in  the  late 
eighties,  were  some  young  men  who  became  in- 
terested in  real  estate.  There  was  a  real  estate 
boom  in  the  city,  and  even  the  college  boys  be- 
came enthusiastic  about  buying  lots  and  putting 
up  buildings.  One  of  the  young  men  in  Miss 
Sanford's  home  became  so  involved  that  he 
gave  up  his  college  course  and  went  into  the 
real  estate  business  for  a  time.  He  was  so 
successful  that  the  Professor  succumbed  to  the 
temptation  to  buy  land  and  put  up  houses.  She 
bought  many  lots  in  her  own  neighborhood  and 
had  dwellings  built  by  some  of  her  students  who 
earned  their  way  through  college  by  doing 
carpenter  work  in  the  summer.  Miss  Sanford's 
idea  was  not  to  get  rich  but  to  help  others ;  and 
she  asked  some  of  her  Quaker  friends  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  other  friends  in  Connecticut,  some 
of  whom  were  elderly  and  had  a  small  amount 
of  means,  to  invest  their  money  in  her  enter- 
prise, in  the  hope  of  providing  for  their  old  age. 

132 


MARIA  SANFORD  133 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  her  friends  had  such 
confidence  in  her  ability  and  her  judgment  that 
they  gave  their  money  unreservedly  into  her 
hands.  The  exact  amount  she  borrowed  for 
this  real  estate  enterprise  cannot  be  deter- 
mined, but  thirty  thousand  dollars  is  probably 
not  too  much  to  estimate.  Some  of  it,  however, 
was  loaned  by  rich  corporations.  For  a  time 
everything  went  well,  but  the  history  of  the  real 
estate  boom  was  like  that  of  most  booms.  A 
collapse  came,  and  caught  Miss  Sanford  at  the 
wrong  time.  The  young  student  whose  exam- 
ple she  had  followed  had  sold  out  before  the 
failure  and  was  a  good  many  dollars  richer  for 
his  experiment;  but  she  unfortunately  lost  all 
the  money  she  had  invested.  Though  this  loss 
was  in  one  way  the  greatest  trial  of  her  life,  it 
was  perhaps  in  another  way  her  greatest  bless- 
ing. For  a  few  years  she  was  so  harassed  that 
her  work  at  the  University  suffered.  Students 
did  not  know  what  was  troubling  her;  some  of 
them  thought  that  she  was  lecturing  too  much 
and  slighting  her  class  work.  They  sensed  the 
fact  that  she  was  not  her  usual  self.  Without 
knowing  anything  of  the  straits  she  was  in  they 
resented  what  they  thought  was  lack  of  interest 
in  her  work  and  began  to  show  dissatisfaction 
with  the  overburdened  professor.  She  was 


134  MARIA  SANFORD 

caricatured  in  the  Gopher,  the  annual  produc- 
tion of  the  Junior  class,  and  a  petition  finally 
presented  to  President  Northrop  asking  to  have 
her  dropped  from  the  faculty.  Hurt  as  she 
was,  she  felt  that  her  work  was  too  valuable  to 
make  it  advisable  for  her  to  be  dropped.  She 
redoubled  her  efforts,  braced  herself  to  meet 
the  trial,  and  keep  on  with  her  class  work,  giv- 
ing of  herself  more  and  more  every  day.  To 
her  firm  friend  Governor  Pillsbury  she  confided 
her  difficulties ;  and  he  with  his  strong  business 
sense  advised  her  to  go  into  bankruptcy  and 
pay  as  much  as  she  could  of  her  debts.  Some  of 
the  foremost  bankers  in  the  city  gave  her  sim- 
ilar advice,  but  she  would  not  listen,  and  de- 
clared that  if  her  life  was  spared  she  would  pay 
every  cent  of  the  money  she  owed,  both  prin- 
cipal and  interest.  To  her  glory  and  honor  she 
paid  that  debt,  although  it  took  her  more  than 
thirty  years.  Not  until  she  was  eighty  years 
of  age  did  she  feel  free.  Men  who  urged  her 
repeatedly  to  do  what  any  reputable  business 
man  would  have  felt  it  right  to  do,  honored  her 
so  greatly  for  refusing  that  they  are  still  talk- 
ing of  it. 

Just  how  much  money  Miss  Sanford  bor- 
rowed it  has  been  impossible  to  learn,  as  she 
never  kept  account  books ;  but  large  sums  from 


MAEIA  SANFOED  135 

different  people  are  on  record.  From  one  friend 
in  the  east  she  borrowed  eight  thousand  dollars. 
After  she  had  paid  three  thousand  of  the  prin- 
cipal, this  man  offered  to  forego  the  interest 
and  from  that  time  on  she  paid  fifty  dollars  a 
month  on  the  principal.  This  man,  eighty-five 
years  old  before  the  debt  was  paid,  had  an 
invalid  wife  and  a  frail  daughter,  all  of  whom 
had  to  live  on  the  money  that  Miss  Sanf  ord  was 
able  to  send  him.  Yet  he  never  lost  faith  in  her 
and  in  one  letter  wrote:  "I  appreciate  the 
efforts  you  have  made,  and  the  severe  trials 
through  which  you  have  passed.  Not  many 
men  or  women,  I  fear, would  have  done  so  nobly. 
Still  you  have  only  proved  yourself  to  be  the 
Maria  L.  Sanf  ord  that  N.  W.  Terrell  told  us  you 
were,  and  that  I  believed  you  to  be  from  what 
I  saw  in  Middlefield  in  May,  1867,  and  in  Ches- 
ter County  later." 

Some  years  later,  in  another  letter,  he  reiter- 
ates: "I  have  absolute  confidence  in  your  in- 
tegrity, and  I  have  had  abundant  reason  to 
have."  When  this  debt  was  finally  liquidated 
in  1908,  the  aged  man  wrote  as  follows:  *'Thi^ 
brings  to  a  finis  one  feature  of  our  protracted 
experiences  in  finance  that  have  been  running 
now  for  nearly  twenty-one  years.  While  we 
have  both  been  disappointed,  it  gives  me  pleas- 


136  MARIA  SANFORI) 

ure  to  know  and  say  that  I  have  found  you  in 
all  these  trying  circumstances  the  very  soul  of 
honor  and  integrity.  It  was  forty-one  years  ago 
last  May  that  I  first  met  you.  .  .  .  Your 
character  has  been  put  to  a  test  that  you  did 
not  seek  nor  expect,  and  it  has  been  strength- 
ened and  brightened  thereby.  These  qualities 
you  will  carry  with  you  from  this  little  island 
of  time  on  to  the  great  continent  of  eternity. 
Certainly  thine  has  been  a  rather  re- 
markable career.  I  have  lived  eighty-four  years 
and  have  met  many  teachers,  but  I  can  recall 
none  whom  I  think  entitled  to  the  credit  due 
thee.  Few  have  taught  as  long,  and  not  one  that 
I  have  known  contended  so  long  and  so  bravely 
against  adverse  fortune,  and  in  behalf  of  kin- 
dred and  friends  as  thee  has.  .  .  .  Then 
the  last  twenty  years  of  thy  history; — well,  it 
reminds  me  of  what  I  have  read  of  the  closing- 
years  of  Walter  Scott.  Although  thee  has  not 
been  able  to  do  all  for  me  that  I  hoped  finan- 
cially, thee  has  fully  sustained  my  ideal  of 
moral  integrity.  Very  soon  with  us  dollars  will 
disappear,  but  character,  all  that  will  be  left 
us,  will  endure.  ...  I  enclose  thy  note; 
as  a  relic  it  will  be  of  more  interest  to  thee  than 
to  me.  The  pecuniary  results  of  our  acquaint- 
ance have  not  fully  met  our  desires  and  expect- 


MARIA  SANFORD  137 

ations,  but  with  one  result  I  at  least  ought 
to  be  satisfied,  for  I  have  put  Solomon  in  the 
background!  'One  man  among  a  thousand 
have  I  found;  but  a  woman  among  all  these 
have  I  not  found. '  Ecclesiastes  7 :28. " 

From  an  elderly  woman  Miss  Sanford  bor- 
rowed six  thousand  dollars.  That  this  friend 
also  appreciated  the  effort  made  to  repay  her 
is  shown  in  a  letter  written  more  than  twenty- 
five  years  after  the  money  was  borrowed:  ''On 
April  ninth  I  wrote  you  and  cancelled  your  note 
and  sent  it  in  my  letter.  My  daughter  wrote, 
hoping  to  get  word  to  you  at  Seattle  about  see- 
ing her  friend,  and  as  you  did  not  refer  to 
either  letter  we  know  they  could  not  have 
reached  you.  I  do  not  like  to  risk  sending  this 
check  back  without  asking  you  if  it  will  be  safe. 
I  do  not  consider  it  mine.  Perhaps  you  will 
receive  my  letters  sometime  after  they  have 
traveled  around  the  country  awhile."  Miss 
Sanford  was  at  the  time  on  a  lecture  tour.  A 
few  days  later  she  wrote  again:  "I  was  glad 
to  get  your  good  long  letter,  and  thankful  I 
have  relieved  you  of  some  of  your  financial  bur- 
dens. You  give  me  credit  for  being  more  gen- 
erous than  I  was,  for  with  the  April  check  you 
finished  paying  all  except  the  last  thousand, 
according  to  my  accounts.  I  am  glad  to  close 


138  MARIA  SANFORD 

the  book,  so  do  not  give  yourself  any  thought 
about  it.  I  put  that  check  in  the  stove."  She 
refused  to  let  Miss  Sanford  pay  the  last  thou- 
sand dollars  of  the  debt. 

A  letter  from  a  Minnesota  business  man  only 
a  year  before  Miss  Sanford 's  death  shows  that 
still  another  one  felt  the  force  of  her  endeavor : 
"Both  my  wife  and  I  are  amazed  at  your  great 
activity  and  ability  to  give  such  constant  atten- 
tion to  that  heavy  task  of  public  speaking,  with 
its  many  inconveniences  and  discomforts. 
When  we  think  of  all  the  good  you  are  accom- 
plishing these  days  of  unrest  and  pressing 
problems,  we  realize  how  great  a  blessing  your 
leadership  is  in  directing  our  thoughts  along- 
right  lines,  and  I  feel  that  I  am  almost  heart- 
less to  let  you  strive  to  keep  up  these  monthly 
payments.  Now  I  think  it  is  time  to  say  'Well 
done*  to  you  as  an  expression  of  our  high  re- 
gard and  esteem,  and  as  a  testimonial  to  your 
great  leadership  and  helpfulness  we  want  you 
to  accept  the  remainder  due ;  and  in  any  event 
the  obligation  is  truly  paid,  and  you  cannot  pay 
it }  twice." 

Other  evidences  of  a  similar  feeling  came  to 
Miss  Sanford  from  people  in  various  parts  of 
the  country.  From  the  family  of  a  deceased 
creditor  she  received  a  cancelled  note  for  sev- 


MARIA  SANFORD  139 

eral  hundred  dollars.  Among  all  her  creditors 
there  seemed  to  be  only  one  person  who  had  a 
different  feeling.  To  this  man,  a  rich  business 
man,  she  owed  eight  thousand  dollars.  For 
some  years  he  was  a  prominent  member  of  the 
Board  of  Regents,  and  that  may  have  had  a 
bearing  on  the  difficulty  that  Miss  Sanford  had 
in  keeping  her  position  in  the  University.  On 
different  occasions  he  had  his  lawyer  write  to 
Miss  Sanford.  One  of  the  letters  is  as  follows : 
"I  must  now  insist  that  without  any  further 
delay  you  give  attention  to  my  letter  of  the  29th 
ult.  in  reference  to  the note.  Not  hear- 
ing from  you  I  have  made  several  attempts  to 
see  you,  but  without  avail.  I  will  ask  you  to 
telephone  us  tomorrow,  and  let  me  know  when 
and  where  I  can  see  you  in  reference  to  the 
note.  To  be  entirely  fair  with  you,  I  am  ob- 
liged to  say  that  inattention  and  indifference 
on  your  part  will  not  only  be  of  no  avail  to  you, 
but  will  prove  a  detriment.  The  propriety  of 
your  course  is  another  matter.  The  note  must 
be  fully  paid  or  its  payment  definitely  and  cer- 
tainly provided  for  at  once."  In  1913  Miss 
Sanford  finished  paying  this  member  of  the 
Board  of  Regents. 

Her  method  all  the  years  of  paying  back  the 
monev  she  owed  was  to  set  aside  each  month  as 


140  MARIA  SANFORD 

much  of  her  salary  as  she  could  possibly  spare 
and  pay  each  of  her  creditors  in  turn  a  certain 
per  cent,  of  what  she  owed.  She  began  with 
the  oldest  people  and  those  most  in  need. 
Some  of  these  died  before  the  debt  was  liqui- 
dated. Naturally,  those  to  whom  she  owed  most 
were  the  last, to  be  paid  in  full. 

The  Chicago  Banker  of  June  15,  1907,  in  an 
article  entitled  The  Banker  a  Man  of  Judgment, 
gives  this  tribute  to  Miss  Sanford's  effort : 

"On  the  east  side  of  Minneapolis  and  near 
the  University  lives  a  woman  involved  in  the 
panic,  who  was  paying  her  debts  out  of  her 
hard  earned  salary  and  meager  income,  money 
which  she  needed  for  her  advancing  years.  In 
sympathy  for  her  I  said, — 'Professor,  men  go 
through  bankruptcy  and  get  rid  of  such  debts. 
If  you  do  not  want  to  do  that  way,  let  me  ar- 
range a  compromise,  and  you  pay  fifty  cents 
on  the  dollar.  Your  creditors  are  rich  cor- 
porations, and  it  will  not  hurt  them  to  lose  a 
little.'  Was  she  pleased  at  my  proposition? 
Did  she  thank  me?  Nay,  verily!  She  rose  in 
her  righteous  indignation  and,  spurned  my  sug- 
gestion. She ,  said,  *  My  father  taught  me  when 
I  was  a  child  that  when  storms  of  adversity 
attacked  me  I  was  not  to  yield  weakly  to  the 


MARIA  SANFORD  141 

gale,  but  rise  and  fight  the  blast.  I  could  not 
sleep  in  my  grave  unless  I  paid  my  debts,  and 
I  shall  pay  them  in  full.' 

"I  had  to  permit  that  noble  woman  to  pay 
my  bank,  as  she  paid  others,  to  the  last  dollar. 
If  some  morning  you  see  in  stirring  headlines 
that  a  new  wonder  has  appeared  in  southeast 
Minneapolis,  and  that  Elijah's  chariot  of  fire 
and  flaming  horses  have  again  swept  down  to 
earth,  and  that  our  beloved  professor  has  been 
caught  up  to  the  heavens,  do  not  be  surprised. 
Only  pray  that  her  mantle  of  integrity  may  fall 
upon  a  worthy  successor." 

She  said  at  one  time  that  she  allowed  herself 
only  thirteen  dollars  a  month  for  her  personal 
use ;  and  for  more  than  thirty  years,  even  until 
she  was  past  seventy-five  years  of  age,  she 
walked  where  much  younger  and  more  healthy 
women  rode  on  the  street  car.  She  ate  always 
the  plainest  food,  she  dressed  always  in  the 
simplest,  most  austere  fashion,  she  did  not  even 
allow  herself  white  at  her  neck  and  wrists. 
Her  house  had  no  luxuries.  The  rooms  of  stu- 
dents were  comfortably  furnished;  her  own 
room  was  austere  to  bareness,  without  even  an 
easy  chair.  She  was  a  great  lover  of  good  liv- 
ing, of  good  food,  but  one  day  she  was  speaking 
with  enthusiasm  of  a  very  good  dinner  she  had 


142  MARIA  SANFORD 

just  eaten  at  her  home,  and  remarked  that  she 
had  had  a  potato  stew  for  dinner.  She  told 
one  friend  that  she  did  not  even  use  a  match 
whenever  she  could  use  a  paper  spill  instead. 
She  split  her  own  wood  for  the  kitchen  fire. 
She  piled  the  wood  in  piles.  She  rose  at  two 
o'clock  on  Monday  mornings  and  did  her  own 
washing  for  the  house.  She  got  down  on  her 
hands  and  knees  and  scrubbed  her  own  floors. 
Students  who  were  early  risers  sometimes  saw 
a  strange  sight,  that  of  Professor  Sanford 
trundling  a  wheelbarrow  toward  her  home  from 
some  place. near-by  where  she  had  been  picking 
up  wood  or  chips,  but  none  of  the  students  ever 
knew  why  these  strange,  unheard  of  things  were 
being  done.  She  was  sensitive  to  criticism,  but 
when  she  knew  she  had  something  to  do  no 
amount  of  criticism  could  swerve  her  from  her 
chosen  path.  Her  feelings  were  hurt  more 
than  once  at  class  plays  when  some  facetious 
student  would  imitate  Maria  Sanford  in  dress 
and  action.  Not  even  her  colleagues  on  the 
faculty  were  aware  of  the  burden  she  was  bear- 
ing. Many  of  them  considered  her  stingy  be- 
cause she  spent  so  little  money  on  herself  and 
was  so  averse  to  riding  on  the  street  cars  when 
that  seemed  the  natural  thing  to  do. 


MARIA  SANFORD  143 

One  other  way  of  saving  money  became  so 
well  known  and  so  much  talked  of  that  the 
papers  of  the  country  during  the  world  war 
spoke  of  the  fact  that  an  old  lady,  eighty  years 
of  age,  was  traveling  across  the  country,  giving 
patriotic  lectures  and  refusing  to  ride  in  a 
sleeping  car  as  long  as  the  boys  were  suffer- 
ing such  hardships  in  the  war.  The  railway 
conductors  and  passengers  who  spread  this 
story  had  no  means  of  knowing  that  for  thirty 
years  before  this  time  Miss  Sanford  had  been 
doing  a  similar  thing;  in  fact  she  never  slept 
in  a  Pullman  car.  She  had  always  saved  that 
money.  Once  some  years  before  the  war  she 
was  invited  to  lecture  in  northern  Saskatche- 
wan. Money  was  given  her  for  her  fare  and 
for  her  sleeper.  She  remarked  that  she  had 
ridden  in  a  day  coach;  and  when  the  horrified 
listener  asked  if  the  Canadian  people  had  not 
given  her  money  for  a  sleeper  she  said  cer- 
tainly they  had,  but  she  knew  of  no  easier  way 
to  make  ten  dollars  than  to  save  it  and  ride  in 
a  day  coach.  The  remarkable  thing  about  Miss 
Sanford 's  riding  in  th*e  day  coach  during  the 
war  was  not  that  she  was  ( saving  money  be- 
cause the  boys  couldn  't  have  comfortable  sleep- 
ers, but  that  she  was  riding  in  a  day  coach  at 
an  age  when  most  women  are  unable  to  ride  on 


144  MARIA  SANFORD 

the  cars  at  all.     She  was  past  eighty  years  of 
age  when  America  entered  the  war. 

With  this  strenuous,  ascetic,  Spartan  kind  of 
living  she  reduced  little  by  little  the  great  debt 
on  her  shoulders,  even  though  her  salary  at  the 
University  Avas  cut  at  one  time  one-third,  and 
was  never  raised  until  two  years  before  her 
retirement  at  the  age  of  seventy-two.  When 
she  retired  she  said  to  a  friend  that  she  hoped 
in  three  years  more  to  be  able  to  finish  paying 
the  debt,  but  ( at  the  end  of  the  three  years  told 
another  friend  that  she  must  make  before  her 
death  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  How  she  made 
that  amount  of  money  in  the  next  eight  years 
it  is  impossible  to  tell.  She  averaged  probably 
not  more  than  ten  dollars  a  lecture.  She  gave 
many  lectures  for  nothing;  some  for  two  or 
three  dollars ;  a  very  few  lectures  for  one  hun- 
dred or  two  hundred  dollars;  but  as  nearly  as 
can  be  estimated  from  the  very  imperfect  and 
irregular  accounts  she  kept,  her  lectures  prob- 
ably did  not  average  more  than  ten  dollars 
each.  She  once  made  a  written  statement  to 
the  effect  that  she  earned  on  an  average  four 
or  five  hundred  dollars  a  year  lecturing.  Yet 
at  the  time  of  her  eightieth  birthday,  in  1916, 
she  wrote  on  a  little  scrap  of  paper  a  memoran- 
dum in  which  she  said,  ' '  My  debts  are  now  all 


MARIA  SANFORD  145 

paid  but  four  thousand  dollars.  Now  I  can 
begin  to  live  for  others  instead  of  living  for 
myself  as  I  have  always  had  to  do."  A  re- 
markable statement  for  one  who  never  had 
lived  for  herself!  How  the  four  thousand  dol- 
lars was  paid  in  the  next  four  years  it  has  been 
impossible  to  learn ;  but  that  her  debts  were  sat- 
isfied in  some  way  or  other  seems  probable  from 
the  fact  that  her  executors  stated  a  year  after 
her  death  that  nobody  had  presented  any 
claims. 

When  in  the  late  eighties  the  petition  men- 
tioned above  was  written  asking  for  her  re- 
moval, there  were  many  students  to  stand  by 
her.  A  group  of  men  in  the  junior  class  went 
to  see  President  Northrop  to  ( intercede  in  her 
behalf.  One  of  the  girls  in  that  class  was  so 
troubled  by  the  attitude  toward  her  beloved  pro- 
fessor that  now,  after  thitry  years,  she  feels 
that  her  University  course  was  spoiled  for  her. 
There  were  only  six  girls  in  the  class,  but  each 
of  the  six  was  particularly  interested  in  some 
man  of  the  class,  several  of  whom  were  opposed 
to  Miss  Sanford.  This  young  woman  refused  to 
have  any  thing  to  do  ,with  the  Gopher  of  that 
year,  and  succeeded  in  thwarting  some  of  the 
plans  for  the  class  play.  The  managers  of  the 
Gopher  had  the  temerity  to  ask  Miss  Sanford 
10 


146  MARIA  SANFORD 

to  excuse  them  from  the  recitations  while  they 
were  at  work  on  the  book,  which  was  to  hold 
her  up  to, the  ridicule  of  the  state. 

Some  students  believed  that  the  opposition  to 
Miss  Sanford  was  founded  on  a  sort  of  sex 
antagonism.  Miss  Sanford 's  ideas  for  and 
about  women  were  then  fifty  years  ahead  of  her 
time.  That  Susan  B.  Anthony's  appearance  at 
the  chapel  should  be  the  signal  for  nearly  all 
the  young  men  to  cut  the  exercises  is  a  case  in 
point.  When  one  of  the  boys  was  asked  his 
reasons  for  the  discourtesy  he  answered,  "We 
despise  all  she  stands  for."  Though  Miss  San- 
ford was  not  at  that  time  a  suffragist  she  was 
a  friend  of  Susan  B.  Anthony  and  a  believer  in 
woman's  rights.  Her  method  of  dress  without 
doubt  was  another  factor  that  created  antago- 
nism among  some  of  the  men,  as  well  as  among 
many  of  the  women.  Her  methods  of  teaching 
also  were  at  the  opposite  pole  from  that  of  many 
of  the  other  teachers.  She  paid  little  attention 
to  the  text  book,  whereas  it  was  common  in 
those  days  for  instructors  to  stick  closely  to  the 
words  of  the  text.  She  was  not  methodical, 
and  did  not  adhere  closely  even  to  a  subject. 
She  was  not  logical  in  her  thought,  but  was  con- 
stantly carried  away  by  the  beauty  of  some  lit- 
erary gem  which  she  would  give  to  her  stu- 


MARIA  SANFORD  147 

dents.  Those  who  profited  by  it  thought  this 
of  more  value  than  all  the  textbook  work  of 
their  other  instructors.  This  unusual  method 
of  teaching,  with  her  unusual  appearance  and 
advanced  ideas  brought  about  the  trouble  with 
the  students  which  added  to  her  already  over- 
burdened life. 

Her  heart  coinmunings  over  the  distress  in 
her  life  resulted  as  so  many  times  with  her  in 
the  writing  out  of  thoughts  for  her  guidance. 
Those  written  at  this  time  reveal  much  of  her 
belief  in  the  purpose  and  end  of  life :  *  *  No  mat- 
ter what  comes  to  us,  how  we  are  'battered  by 
the  shocks  of  doom,'  if  it  but  develop  what  is 
highest  in  us.  What  is  the  highest?  I  think 
it  is  the  power  to  stand  alone,  power  to  seek 
the  best  things.  Is  not  the  highest  end  of  life 
power  and  will  to  minister  unto  others?  How 
can  we  minister  if  we  have  not  been  taught  in 
the  school  of  adversity?  The  best  thing  we  get 
is  not  joy  but  strength." 

Another  undated  "thought"  may  well  belong 
to  this  period.  It  is  too  helpful  to  pass  by: 
"We  know  that  some  people  are  speaking  well 
of  us  all  the  time.  Why  not  believe  it  of  all,  and 
get  the  reward  of  joy  in  our  own  hearts,  and  if 
we  should  chance  to  smile  cheerily  on  some  one 
who  was  cherishing  unkind  thoughts  of  us  the 


148  MARIA  SANFOBD 

smile  will  not  make  those  thoughts  any  more 
bitter  and  may  perchance  awaken  kindly  ones." 

In  spite  of  her  harassed  state  of  mind  Miss 
Sanford's  teaching  was  not  at  this  time  con- 
fined to  University  class  work.  For  several 
years  she  taught  three  evenings  a  week  at  the 
Woman's  Boarding  Home  in  Minneapolis,  a 
home  conducted  for  young  working  women.  She 
asked  only  to  be  assured  of  enough  students  to 
give  her  two  dollars  an  evening.  Each  girl  paid 
twenty-five  cents  a  lesson,  and  the  superintend- 
ent was  enabled  to  fill  up  her  own  room  with 
girls  for  each  class.  So  enthusiastic  were  the 
young  women  that  instead  of  two  dollars  she 
received  seven  or  eight  dollars  each  evening. 
In  the  three  years  she  gave  a  course  in  Brown- 
ing, one  in  Kipling,  and  one  in  Eiley,  and  some 
years  later,  after  she  had  had  a  wonderful  trip 
to  Europe,  she  gave  an  art  course  to  these 
young  women  using  the  beautiful  photographs 
she  had  brought  back." 

Another  group  of  women  in  the  same  house 
took  a  course  of  lessons  from  her.  These  were 
teachers  who  wanted  to  refresh  themselves  with 
authors  they  already  knew.  Miss  Sanford 
gave  them  two  or  three  hours  an  evening  in- 
stead of  one.  She  was  so  enthusiastic  about 
her  work  that  one  very  blizzardy  day  when  she 


MARIA  SANFORD  149 

fell  on  the  ice  and  dislocated  her  shoulder  she 
appeared  at  seven  o'clock  sharp  for  her  class; 
and  at  nine  o  'clock  insisted  on  going  home  alone 
instead  of  staying  all  night  as  she  was  urged 
to  do. 

Her  interest  in  the  individual  was  so  sincere 
that  the  superintendent  at  one  time  ventured 
to  send  to  her  a  girl  who  had  come  mysteriously 
from  the  east,  a  college  girl  without  money. 
She  had  probably  run  away  from  home,  but 
never  explained  how  she  came  to  be  in  want. 
The  superintendent  in  a  puzzle  sent  her  to  Miss 
Sanford,  who  gave  her  money  from  time  to 
time,  and  tried  in  various  ways  to  help  her 
earn  some  for  herself. 

In  addition  to  teaching  and  lecturing,  house- 
keeping and  looking  after  her  neighbors,  she 
preached  upon  occasions.  The  one  Friends' 
church  in  Minneapolis,  small  and  frequently 
without  a  pastor,  was  one  in  which  she  was 
especially  glad  to  preach  whenever  she  was 
asked. 

At  one  period  she  preached  for  six  months 
in  a  Universalist  church  which  was  without  a 
pastor.  When  asked  on  various  occasions  what 
she  talked  about,  she  said  "Religion."  Indeed, 
it  was  difficult  to  gather  from  Miss  Sanford 's 
preaching  whether  she  had  any  formulated 


150  MAEIA  SANFORD 

creed.  She  was  considered  very  liberal,  and 
every  one  who  spoke  of  her  preaching  remarked 
upon  its  lofty  spiritual  quality.  A  judge  who 
attended  this  church  said  he  always  went  out 
from  the  service  feeling  lifted  up,  glad  that  he 
had  heard  the  sermon,  but  unable  to  reproduce 
even  the  main  points  in  the  talk.  He  always 
had  the  feeling  that  Miss  Sanford's  sermons 
were  not  well  thought  out,  were  not  logical; 
but  that  the  spiritual  effect  was  very  marked. 
Her  preaching  never  jarred;  she  was  general, 
never  specific.  He  was  always  reminded  of 
Whittier's  Eternal  Goodness  when  he  thought 
of  her. 

A  part  of  one  sermon,  which  has  been  pre- 
served, may  throw  some  light  upon  Miss  San- 
ford's  belief.  Her  text  was,  "God  is  a  spirit, 
and  they  that  worship  Him  must  worship  Him 
in  spirit  and  in  truth."  I  do  not  wish  to  deny 
the  personality  of  God,  but  I  cannot  conceive 
or  comprehend  what  a  spirit  is.  That  which  I 
see  of  God  is  law,  unerring  and  changeless,  but 
none  the  less  beneficent,  none  the  less  our 
Father.  It  is  the  very  fact  of  the  changeless- 
ness  of  God  that  makes  His  greatness,  that 
makes  our  trust  in  Him.  The  old  idea  of  a  God 
dealing  out  only  goodness  and  kindness  makes 
necessary  the  idea  of  a  devil.  God  was  good, 


MARIA  SANFOED  151 

but  here  was  evil;  God  was  just  but  here  was 
injustice !  But  our  idea  of  God  being  law  gets 
rid  of  this  difficulty.  'I  am  a  jealous  God,  vis- 
iting the  iniquities  of  the  fathers  upon  the  chil- 
dren unto  the  third  and  fourth  generations  of 
them  that  hate  me.'  I  think  that  all  through 
the  operations  of  law  right  is  stronger  than 
wrong,  and  goodness  stronger  than  evil.  Law 
goes  on.  It  develops  certain  organisms.  They 
have  their  weaknesses,  and  these  lead  to  their 
destruction.  The  weaker  creations  always  yield 
in  the  battle  to  the  stronger,  the  purer,  the 
nobler  ones.  The  things  that  are  nearer  to  per- 
fection, nearest  to  God  are  the  things  that  will 
at  length  inherit  the  earth.  But  this  is  a  pro- 
cess that  is  slowly  worked  out,  and  worked  out 
through  the  lines  of  law,  not  by  the  absolute 
crushing  of  God's  hand,  wiping  out  all  wicked- 
ness. .  . 

"God  comes  near  unto  us.  He  is  not  far 
off  even  though  we  call  him  long  and  seemingly 
in  vain.  I  do  not  disclaim  a  personality  in  God. 
I  am  not  able  to  comprehend.  I  have  nothing 
to  say.  I  only  say  that  these  are  but  a  part  of 
His  ways.  The  grandeur  of  eternity  I  cannot 
.comprehend,  but  we  see  Him  on  earth  and  near 
to  us.  The  most  trivial  things  are  under  the 
law  that  is  unerring.  The  greatest  movements 
of  the  universe  are  bound  bv  that  same  law." 


152  MARIA  SANFORD 

To  some  who  knew  her  in  her  home  Miss  San- 
ford's  religious  feeling  seemed  more  a  matter 
of  feeling  for  what  is  beautiful  in  morals  and 
in  the  literature  of  the  Bible  than  the  outcome 
of  strong,  personal  faith.  This  was  probably 
due  to  the  fact  that  like  many  Puritans  she  sel- 
dom talked  about  her  private  beliefs.  The  care 
with  which  she  kept  and  referred  to  a  passage 
from  George  MacDonald  is  perhaps  as  clear  an 
indication  as  one  needs  of  her ;  attitude  towards 
religion :  "Life  and  religion  are  one  or  neither 
is  anything.  Religion  is  no  way  of  life,  no 
show  of  life,  no  observance  of  any  sort.  It  is 
neither  the  food  nor  the  medicine  of  being. 
It  is  life  essential." 

So  indifferent  was  she  to  some  observances 
which  many  consider  essential  that  she  some- 
times surprised  and  at  other  times  shocked  con- 
ventional people.  Early  one  Sunday  morning, 
for  instance,  after  noticing  a  hole  in  the  road 
near  her  home,  and  fearing  some  one  might  be 
hurt  in  passing,  she  wheeled  ashes  to  fill  the 
place  and  continued  until  good  citizens  began 
to  pass  by  to  church.  At  another  time  she  dis- 
covered on  Sunday  morning  that  the  potatoes 
in  the  cellar  were  sprouting;  and  as  that  was 
the  only  day  she  could  spare  she  took  care  of 
her  vegetables  then.  In  such  respects  she  de- 


MARIA  SANFORD  153 

parted  from  the  Puritan  teachings  of  her 
youth.  Necessary  manual  labor  was  at  all 
times  and  in  all  places  dignified  and  natural. 
One  Saturday  when  she  had  been  asked  to 
speak  to  a  gathering  of  teachers  she  rose  early 
and  cut  up  a  quarter  of  beef  before  going  to 
her  lecture.  At  the  home  of  a  superintendent 
of  schools  in  a  town  where  she  often  lectured 
she  used  to  help  her  hostess  with  the  work. 

No  small  amount  of  unpleasant  comment  re- 
sulted from  her  long  time  custom  of  collecting 
in  her  skirts  on  her  way  to  the  class  room  in 
the  Old  Main  stray  papers  defacing  the  beauti- 
ful campus  knoll.  These  she  deposited  in  a 
safe  place  until  some  gloomy  morning  when  she 
used  them  to  make  a  bright  fire  in  the  fire  place 
in  her  class  room;  remarking  smilingly  as  the 
students  assembled  that  the  material  for  the 
fire  had  cost  the  University  nothing.  As  the 
University  hired  men  to  keep  the  campus  clean 
critics  thought  a  professor  might  find  a  worth 
ier  and  more  dignified  use  for  her  time. 

Some  time  after  her  death  a  student  of  the 
earlier  days  related  another  incident  which  had 
always  touched  her  deeply.  Before  University 
Avenue  was  paved,  there  was  at  one  time  a 
mud  puddle  of  some  size  just  at  the  main  en- 
trance to  the  campus  which  girls  had  consid- 


154  MARIA  SANFORD 

erable  difficulty  in  crossing.  Miss  Sanford  on 
her  walk  of  three  blocks  from  home  several 
times  a  day  carried  each  time  a  little  bag  of 
sand  which  she  emptied  into  the  water  until  the 
girls  could  cross  dry  shod.  Not  heralded  like 
Sir  Walter .  Raleigh 's  picturesque  act  but  of 
essentially  the  same  type ! 

The  more  thoughtful  students  began  at 
length  to  see  something  of  the  purpose  animat- 
ing the  unconventional  acts  of  the  only  woman 
professor  in  the  University  and  the  *  *  Gopher ' ' 
from  time  to  time  recorded  the  change  in  senti- 
ment. In  one  number  toward  the  close  of  her 
first  decade  in  Minneapolis  appeared  the  ad- 
miring tribute : 

A  woman  tropical,  intense, 

In  thought  and  act,  in  soul  and  sense. 

A  longer  characterization  in  verse  by  the  stu- 
dents of  this  period  has  the  whimsical  tone  of 
abashed  admiration  and  affection: 

AFTER   ALL 

Though  she 's  always  in  a  hurry,  in  a  flutter  and  a  flurry, 
And  she  never  seems  attired  for  the  ball ; 

Noble  qualities  defend  her  and  her  soul   is  warm  and 

tender — 
She's  a  pretty  good  Maria  after  all. 


MARIA  SANFORD  155 

Though  sometimes  her  little  dealings  may  not  soothe  a 

person's  feelings, 

And  he  lets  his  temper  fly  beyond  recall; 
Still  these  deeds  are  done  in  blindness,  and  her  heart  is 

full  of  kindness — 
She's  a  pretty  good  Maria  after  all. 

Though  she  may  not  quite  remember  in  her  bustle  each 

September 

All  the  names  of  those  who  came  to  her  last  fall : 
Still  perfection's  a  delusion,  and  we  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion— 
She's  a  pretty  good  Maria  after  all. 

When  her  spirit  has  departed  where  the  true  and  noble 

hearted 

Find  reception  in  the  great  celestial  hall; 
When  her  mortal  dust  is  sleeping,  we  shall  whisper  softly 

weeping — 
She's  a  pretty  good  Maria  after  all. 


CHAPTEE  VI 
THE  NEIGHBOR 

Miss  Sanford's  love  for  Minneapolis  was 
shown  in  her  attempt  to  make  it  more  beautiful. 
The  desire  for  municipal  beauty  was  hardly 
awake  in  this  country  but  the  Professor  deter- 
mined to  arouse  her  own  city  at  least  to  its  de- 
sirability. To  this  end  she  founded  in  1892 
the  Minneapolis  Improvement  League.  Its 
sole  purpose  was  the  beautifying  of  the  city. 
Miss  Sanford  conceived  the  ambition  of  keep- 
ing the  city  as  it  increased  in  size  free  from  the 
slums  which  used  to  be  considered  an  unavoida- 
ble nuisance  in  any  large  city.  Her  endeavor 
was  always  to  prevent  evil  rather  than  to  re- 
form it.  A  favorite  motto  of  hers  was  an  epi- 
gram of  Horace  Mann :  "One  former  is  worth  a 
thousand  reformers."  Thirty  years  have 
passed  and  the  league  is  still  in  existence.  For 
the  most  part,  the  members  were  women,  but  at 
different  times  prominent  men  of  the  city  were 
active  in  the  work  of  the  association.  The  con- 

156 


MARIA  SANFOBD  157 

stitution  stated  that  ''the  object  shall  be  to 
promote  the  cleanliness,  health  and  beauty  of 
the  city.  This  organization  shall  keep  clear  of 
all  political  or  party  complications,  its  object 
being  to  promote  intelligent  co-operation  be- 
tween the  people  and  the  people's  officers  in 
making  Minneapolis  one  of  the  most  healthful 
and  beautiful  cities  in  the  world."  Meet- 
ings have  been  held  monthly  for  the  past 
thirty  years  except  during  the  summer  season 
and  during  the  world  war. 

The  idea  of  the  formation  of  the  League 
came  from  work  that  had  been  done  in  New 
York  and  Chicago  and  in  Whitechapel  in  Lon- 
don. Early  in  its  organization  seventy-five 
women  were  enrolled  as  members.  The  presi- 
dent proposed  to  distribute  circulars  that  ad- 
vertised cleanliness  and  beauty,  and  to  cultivate 
friendly  relations  with  building  authorities. 
Placards  were  placed  in  the  street  cars  asking 
people  not  to  spit  on  the  floor.  Spitting  on  the 
street  cars  at  that  time  was  such  a  nuisance 
that  one  member  of  the  League  said  she  was 
obliged  to  buy  newspapers  to  put  on  the  floor 
before  she  got  ,on  the  car.  The  League  was 
also  asked  to  attend  to  the  matter  of  spitting 
on  the  floor  in  the  post  office.  By  strenuous 
work  in  time  they  secured  a  city  ordinance 


158  MARIA  SANFORD 

making  it  unlawful  to  spit  on  floors  of  street 
cars  or  of  sidewalks. 

Professor  Sanford  herself  attended  person- 
ally to  various  improvements.  She  prepared 
a  pamphlet  on  the  disposal  of  garbage  and 
other  similar  subjects  helpful  to  young  house- 
keepers ;  this  paper  she  was  asked  later  to  read 
before  the  Women's  Council.  A  doctor  on  the 
health  board  a  few  years  later,  told  the  League 
that  the  arrangements  they  had  made  for  house 
to  house  collection  of  kitchen  refuse  was  a  vast 
improvement  over  any  previous  arrangement. 
Miss  Sanford  saw  the  commissioner  of  one  of 
the  city  wards  and  persuaded  him  to  have  snow 
cleared  from  gutters  and  manholes.  The  So- 
ciety for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals 
asked  the  League  to  see  what  could  be  done  to 
prevent  having  rubbish  in  the  streets  that  would 
injure  horses.  Miss  Sanford  called  attention 
to  the  matter  through  the  newspapers.  In 
1895  she  proposed  a  year  of  experiment  with 
public  bath  houses,  the  friends  of  the  measure 
to  finance  the  experiment.  In  order  to  arouse 
interest  in  this  measure  she  gave  an  account  of 
her  visit  to  the  Health  Protective  Association 
at  Philadelphia.  The  League  was  the  first 
body  to  discuss  the  early  closing  of  business  on 
Saturday  afternoons,  and  in  other  ways  the 


MARIA  SANFORD  159 

bettering  of  conditions  of  employees,  such  as 
the  cashing  of  checks  by  employers. 

As  was  natural  with  a  society  of  this  kind 
the  work  of  greatest  interest  was  with  the 
school  children  of  the  city.  Beginning  in  1893 
and  continuing  for  ten  years,  the  League  gave 
flower  seeds  to  the  small  children  J  for  planting 
in  their  gardens  at  home,  giving  seeds  at  first 
to  two  schools.  The  results  were  so  gratifying 
that  the  work  was  increased  from  year  to  year. 
At  first  Miss  Sanford  visited  the  schools  and 
gave  prizes  for  the  best  flowers  raised.  Later 
a  special  committee  from  the  League  member- 
ship went  to  the  homes  and  inspected  the  gar- 
dens, giving  prizes  to  the  best  ones.  The  first 
year  twenty  such  gardens  received  prizes.  As 
the  work  grew,  the  room  in  each  school  having 
the  largest  number  of  prize  gardens  was 
awarded  a  beautiful  framed  picture.  These 
were  the  first  works  of  art  in  the  public  schools 
of  the  city.  When  money  was  needed  to  pay 
for  the  pictures  Miss  Sanford  gave  courses  of 
lectures  on  the  subjects  of  the  pictures  selected, 
charging  ten  cents  admission.  In  the  course 
of  ten  years  she  gave  half  a  dozen  courses  of 
such  lectures. 

The  fourth  year  fourteen  thousand  children 
were  supplied  with  seeds,  and  the  tenth  year 


160  MARIA  SANFORD 

forty  thousand.  The  fifth  year  more  than  one 
hundred  pictures  were  given  as  prizes.  Though 
the  membership  of  the  League  had  increased 
by  this  time  to  nearly  two  hundred,  Miss  San- 
ford's  lectures  were  needed  to  raise  money 
enough  to  pay  for  so  many  pictures;  notwith- 
standing that  the  art  dealer,  a  public  spirited 
citizen,  gave  several  outright. 

The  children  were  asked  to  give  some  of  their 
flowers  to  the  sick.  They  were  also  asked  to 
co-operate  with  the  League  in  the  extermina- 
tion of  the  Russian  thistle  and  the  sand  bur. 
For  this  they  were  formed  into  brigades  which 
brought  loads  of  the  obnoxious  weeds  and 
burned  them  at  the  school.  A  street  inspector 
of  Chicago  was  so  much  interested  in  their  re- 
sults that  she  organized  the  school  children  of 
that  city  into  bands  to  help  keep  Chicago  clean 
and  beautiful. 

The  Minneapolis  Park  Board  one  year  pre- 
sented bulbs  for  winter  planting  to  a  number 
of  schools;  and  the  State  Fair  Association  ex- 
hibited one  year  sixty  bouquets  from  the  gar- 
dens, awarding  prizes  to  six  of  them.  Teachers 
found  the  work  the  most  enjoyable  of  the  year, 
and  the  Minneapolis  School  Board  sent  a 
formal  vote  of  thanks  to  the  League. 

Two  years  after  the  formation  of  the  League 


MAEIA  SANFORD  161 

it  was  admitted  to  the  National  Federation  of 
Women's  Clubs,  and  three  years  later  to  the 
State  Federation,  which  asked  the  League  to 
give  a  report  of  its  work  to  the  Omaha  Exposi- 
tion. In  this  year,  1897,  Miss  Sanf ord  resigned 
from  the  presidency  because  of  the  pressure  of 
other  duties;  but  promised  faithfulness  to  the 
body  as  far  as  her  time  would  permit.  The 
members  then  thought  it  fitting  to  make  ^her  an 
honorary  president  for  life.  Some  years  later 
she  was  again  made  active  president  for  four 
years. 

By  1897  the  work  of  the  League  was  so  well 
known  that  women  from  other  states  were  eager 
to  learn  the  various  methods  used  for  improve- 
ments. The  Park  Outdoor  Art  Association 
asked  Miss  Sanford  to  present  the  work  of  the 
League  to  its  members,  as  a  result  of  which  the 
League  was  invited  to  become  an  auxiliary  to 
this  body.  Her  paper  was  printed  in  the  annual 
report  of  the  association  and  also  in  the  south- 
ern magazine  American  Homes.  The  League 
thus  became  so  well  known  that  inquiries 
poured  in  from  all  over  the  country. 

The  work  with  the  school  gardens  increased 
in  scope  when  in  1898  the  Government  and  Min- 
neapolis seed  firms  gave  vegetable  seeds  to 
boys  who  wanted  them.  Professor  Shaw  of  the 
11 


162  MAKIA  SANFORD 

Agricultural  College  gave  wheat  to  any  who 
wished  to  experiment  in  raising  it;  for  some 
years,  too,  he  showed  the  boys  of  two  schools 
near  his  home  how  to  care  for  vegetable  gar- 
dens. The  League  showed  their  appreciation 
of  his  services  by  making  him  an  honorary  life 
member  of  their  association. 

The  children  had  by  this  time  learned  to  raise 
flowers  for  their  own  sake,  because  they  loved 
them.  So  many  of  the  schools  had  been  fur- 
nished with  pictures  that  the  committee  ex- 
perimented with  plaster  casts  for  prizes;  but 
as  it  was  difficult  to  interest  the  children  in 
them,  prizes  of  any  kind  were  at  length  discon- 
tinued. Instead,  the  children  were  given  shrubs 
with  which  to  beautify  their  home  lawns.  Rose 
and  lilac  bushes  and  strawberry  plants  were 
given  to  those  children  who  wanted  them.  The 
standard  work  on  horticulture  by  Professor 
Green  of  the  Agricultural  College  was  put  into 
all  these  schools  and  into  the  library,  and  the 
children  encouraged  to  inform  themselves  on 
the  best  method  of  gardening. 

Interest  in  what  the  women  had  accomplished 
became  so  wide  spread  that  a  group  of  public 
spirited  men  asked  them  to  undertake  the  open- 
ing of  a  summer  play  ground  in  some  public 
school  yard,  the  men  to  pay  for  the  expense  of 


MARIA  SANFORD  163 

the  experiment.  The  permission  of  the  School 
Board  was  obtained,  a  supervisor  hired,  and 
the  public  asked  to  contribute  toys  and  sand. 
Miss  Sanford  was  made  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee on  this  work.  One  member  of  the  League 
taught  swimming  at  this  school,  and  another 
collected  reading  matter.  The  men  who  paid 
for  the  play  ground  were  made  honorary  mem- 
bers of  the  League.  The  experiment  was  so 
successful  that  the  next  year  two  play  grounds 
were  conducted.  The  following  season  the 
School  Board  offered  to  conduct  a  manual 
training  class ;  and  the  society  of  the  D.  A.  R. 
presented  the  playground  schools  with  flags. 

In  the  year  1902  the  League  supported  the 
industrial  and  playground  work,  with  the  prin- 
cipal of  one  of  the  schools  to  overlook  it.  The 
following  year  five  hundred  were  attending  the 
summer  schools;  three  buildings  were  in  use, 
and  nine  teachers  employed.  Letters  from  as 
far  east  as  New  Jersey  and  Boston  were  re- 
ceived asking  about  the  results  of  the  work.  In 
1904  a  thousand  children  were  taught  manual 
training,  cooking,  sewing  and  nature  study. 
After  five  years  the  League  turned  this  work 
over  to  the  School  Board,  which  has  conducted 
it  since. 

Another  field  of  work  suggested  by  Miss  San- 


164  MARIA  SANFORD 

ford  had  a  far  reaching  effect.  She  set  forth 
the  need  of  an  educational  committee  which 
should  see  that  the  schools  were  visited  by  per- 
sons competent  to  suggest  needful  changes  and 
improvements.  The  suggestion  was  favorably 
received;  Miss  Sanford  was  made  chairman 
of  the  mothers'  educational  committee.  They 
worked  for  better  janitor  service  in  the  schools, 
for  the  abolishment  of  basement  school  rooms. 
Such  were  the  modest  beginnings  of  the  present 
thoroughly  organized  parent-teachers'  associa- 
tions in  the  city  schools. 

Many  other  improvements  for  which  the 
League  worked  met  with  less  notable  success. 
They  tried  to  have  the  street  car  signs  im- 
proved; to  have  signs  removed  from  trees  and 
posts;  and  to  have  a  law  forbidding  the  de- 
facement of  the  landscape  by  huge  signs  in 
glaring  colors;  but  the  city  still  suffers  from 
them  all.  Not  until  an  outspoken  European 
visitor  wrote  "of  the  horror  of  the  billboards 
everywhere  confronting  the  traveler  in  the 
United  States  did  a  planning  commission  take 
steps  to  do  away  with  unsightly  advertising. 

The  city  water  of  Minneapolis  had  for  some 
years  been  unsatisfactory,  and  the  League  took 
up  the  question  of  a  pure  water  supply. 
Through  its  sub-committee  on  pure  water,  it 


MARIA  SANFORD  165 

secured  the  appointment  of  the  first  Pure 
Water  Commission  and  the  first  submission  to 
the  people  of  filtration  bonds.  This  was  accom- 
plished by  arduous  effort  on  the  part  of  the 
League.  Meetings  were  held  in  different  parts 
of  the  city  to  arouse  public  interest,  dodgers 
were  printed  urging  attendance,  and  an  expert 
was  brought  from  New  York.  In  the  course  of 
time  an  improved  water  supply  was  obtained. 

In  1898  the  state  fire  warden  aroused  public 
spirited  women  to  the  necessity  of  preserving 
for  a  state  park  the  handsome  body  of  forest 
around  Cass  Lake,  which  included  the  Cass 
Lake  Indian  reservation.  The  women's  clubs 
at  once  became  interested,  and  the  next  year  the 
president  of  the  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs, 
accompanied  by  Miss  Sanford  and  one  other 
woman,  went  to  Washington  and  interviewed 
the  President,  members  of  Congress,  commit- 
tees on  Indian  affairs,  the  Bureau  of  Indian 
Rights,  the  Commissioner  of  Public  Lands,  and 
the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  with  encouraging 
results,  although  nothing  was  done  that  year 
with  reference  to  the  reserve.  The  clubs  con- 
tinued to  work  vigorously  to  prevent  the  de- 
struction of  the  valuable  forests  by  lumbermen. 
After  four  years  a  bill  was  finally  passed  in 
1902  saving  this  and  eventually  other  valuable 


166  MARIA  SANFOED 

forest  areas  to  the  state.  During  these  years 
Miss  Sanford  worked  untiringly  toward  this 
end. 

At  the  close  of  the  first  ten  years  of  the  work 
the  League  was  acting  with  the  Park  Board,  the 
Commercial  Club,  the  Board  of  Education,  the 
City  Council,  the  Board  of  Health  and  the  State 
Legislature.  Affiliation  with  so  many  organiza- 
tions made  the  members  consider  the  advisabil- 
ity of  disbanding.  But  as  after  deliberation  they 
felt  there  was  a  real  place  for  such  a  club,  they 
discontinued  their  work  only  during  the  world 
war,  and  resumed  it  in  1921.  Twice  the  League 
gave  public  expression  of  appreciation  of  its 
founder  and  most  untiring  worker;  once  in 
1912,  when  it  made  Miss  Sanford  its  delegate 
to  the  Biennial  of  the  General  Federation  of 
Women's  Clubs  at  San  Francisco;  and  again 
in  1916,  when  it  held  a  public  reception  at  the 
West  Hotel  in  honor  of  Miss  Sanford,  who  had 
again  for  four  years  been  active  president. 

As  long  as  Miss  Sanford  remained  an  active 
member  of  the  University  faculty  civic  work 
of  any  kind  occupied  only  a  minor  place  in  her 
activities.  As  the  University  increased  in  size, 
her  classes  increased  in  proportion.  In  1890 
there  were  a  thousand  students.  The  money 
available  for  her  department  was  not  sufficient 


MAKIA  SANFOBD  167 

to  give  her  an  adequate  amount  of  help,  so  that 
both  the  number  and  the  size  of  her  classes  in- 
creased with  time.  To  stimulate  the  work  in 
oratory  in  Miss  Sanford's  department,  Gov- 
ernor Pillsbury  gave  for  some  years  prizes  for 
the  best  orations  of  the  year. 

Miss  Sanford  conceived  in  1890  a  plan  by 
which  the  members  of  her  classes  could  have 
the  use  of  many  of  the  best  text  books  in  Rhet- 
oric and  the  history  of  art,  sculpture,  and  archi- 
tecture, the  lives  of  artists,  copies  of  beautiful 
poems  and  essays,  without  being  asked  to  buy 
a  great  number  of  books.  For  her  work  she 
considered  the  few  copies  of  such  books  access- 
ible in  the  library  to  be  inadequate.  She  there- 
fore bought  sets  of  books  and  rented  them, 
to  the  students  for  a  dollar  a  year.  This  method 
required  the  work  of  assistants  to  give  out  and 
collect  the  books  and  keep  the  records.  In  spite 
of  their  best  efforts  so  many  books  were  lost 
every  year  that  she  was  out  of  pocket.  The 
method  was  not  altogether  satisfactory  to  the 
students,  either,  nor  to  some  members  of  the 
faculty.  There  was  for  a  considerable  time  a 
suspicion  that  she  was  making  money  renting 
books.  As  that  was  not  considered  ethical  for 
a  university  professor,  she  had  to  endure  con- 
siderable criticism. 


168  MARIA  SANFORD 

As  the  years  passed  those  who  had  left  col- 
lege began  to  appreciate  the  value  of  Miss 
Sanford's  teaching.  One  former  student  in 
writing  to  her  said,  "I  have  thought  of  you  at 
different  times, — how  much  you  have  had  to  put 
up  with  in  many  ways ;  how  brave  and  cheerful 
you  always  are,  and  with  what  vigor  you  meet 
each  new  discouragement  and  perplexity.  I 
wish  I  might  hope  that  my  life  troubles,  when 
they  come,  would  find  as  brave  and  true  a 
spirit,  a  heart  as  warm  and  tender,  and  a  mind 
as  able  and  vigorous  as  yours. ' ' 

Another  student  the  same  year  wrote  from  a 
larger  university  in  an  eastern  state.  This 
man  remarked  in  his  letter  that  he  was  sixteen 
years  of  age  before  he  saw  this  country,  and 
had  to  earn  his  own  living  while  he  went 
through  the  whole  school  system  of  the  state 
of  Minnesota.  Said  he :  "  This  is  a  great  insti- 
tution of  learning.  I  am  proud  of  it,  and  glad 
to  be  one  of  its  students,  but  I  miss  here  that 
pleasant,  intimate  and  confidential  relation  with 
persons  in  whose  good  will  and  superior  intel- 
lect and  character  I  could  firmly  believe.  I  have 
often  heard  you  say  in  the  class  room  that  you 
did  not  consider  it  your  only  duty  to  teach 
rhetoric  and  composition,  but  also  to  help  us 
to  become  better  men  and  women.  I  think  that 


MARIA  SANFORD  169 

I  even  then  appreciated  your  kind  thoughtful- 
ness  to  a  very  great  extent,  because  I  had  occa- 
sional individual  talks  with  you,  and  always  re- 
ceived your  more  than  kind  assistance  in  what- 
ever form  I  needed  it,  but  I  am  learning  to  ap- 
preciate it  still  more  now  when  I  miss  it  and 
can  no  longer  have  it  either  in  the  class  room 
or  elsewhere.  I  have  found  nothing  of  that 
here,  Miss  Sanford.  My  professors  are  chem- 
ists, and  I  know  them  only  as  such.  Of  course 
they  are  good  chemists  and  good  teachers  of 
chemistry,  and  as  I  came  here  to  study  chemis- 
try, I  ought  to  be  satisfied.  I  get  all  that  I  pay 
for, — all  that  I  expected  to  get.  I  only  wanted 
you  to  know  how  I  feel  about  it,  and  that  my 
memory  of  you  will  always  be  a  little  more 
fresh,  a  little  more  pleasing  than  that  of  any 
other  professor,  because  you  are  something 
more  than  a  paid  instructor, — a  kind  and 
trusted  friend." 

In  the  spring  of  1895  Miss  Sanford  was  away 
from  the  University  for  a  time  and  her  assist- 
ants carried  on  the  work.  A  letter  written  by 
one  of  them  gives  not  only  an  insight  into  the 
work  of  the  department,  but  some  pleasing 
touches  about  the  University:  "I  have  felt  im- 
pelled to  break  through  the  thick  crust  of  habit 
that  makes  the  writing  of  letters  a  rare  and 


170  MARIA  SANFOED 

strange  thing  to  me,  and  to  assure  you  that  in 
the  place  of  your  far  eastern  sojourn  you  are 
not  quite  unthought  of  by  your  friends  and  fel- 
low workers  at  home.  It  is  a  good  thing  per- 
haps to  have  the  invisible  cords  that  bind  you 
to  Minnesota  pulled  a  little  by  the  people  of  the 
western  end  so  that  you  may  not  grow  wanton 
in  your  freedom  and  forget  that,  however  far 
the  ball  may  have  been  unwound,  the  stake  that 
holds  it  is  planted  firm  and  deep  in  the  soil  of 
our  own  college  campus.  But  I  do  not  believe 
that  your  memory  of  Minnesota  friends  needs 
more  than  a  very  gentle  jogging.  I  can  fancy 
you  thinking  of  us,  not  so  very  often  perhaps ; 
for  the  happy  present  craves,  I  doubt  not,  the 
largest  part  of  you  all  for  itself.  Miles  unite 
as  well  as  divide  people,  and  I  can  well  imagine 
that  even  in  a  milder  climate,  and  among  your 
own  kinsfolk  your  heart  warms  toward  frosty 
Minnesota. 

"The  little  world  of  which  you  ,are  center 
and  sovereign  seems  to  run  on  with  tolerable 
smoothness  in  your  absence.  You  gave  the 
hoop  so  strong  a  push  before  leaving  it,  per- 
haps it  will  keep  on  rolling  from  its  own  mo- 
mentum until  you  get  back  to  it.  A  few  events 
have  broken  the  university  routine  since  you 
left  us.  "We  have  entered  a  term;  we  have 


MARIA  SANFORD  171 

moved  into  the  new  building;  we  have  had  a 
visit  from  the  Legislature.  There  was  much 
begging  by  the  Governor  and  many  sallies  by 
the  President,  and  no  end  of  compliments  and 
promises  from  the  flattered  legislators.  The 
Minnesota  Magazine,  which  I  have  not  read, 
but  which  strikes  me  as  rather  light,  scrappy 
and  popular,  has  taken  the  air  for  the  first  time 
in  a  delicate  pink  costume.  And  we  have  had, 
too,  the  Chicago  man,  Professor  Moulton,  a 
little  fantastical  and  theatrical,  but  of  delight- 
ful vigor  and  withal  a  man  of  larger  build  than 
the  usual  lecturer  on  his  class  of  subjects. 

"I  hope  you  are  doing  for  yourself  in  an  in- 
tellectual sense  what  you  are  fond  of  doing  for 
your  class  room  at  home, — suspending  the  rou- 
tine, throwing  open  all  the  windows  and  taking 
a  good  general  airing, — letting  your  cares  flut- 
ter and  blow  away  as  your  papers  are  wont  to 
do  under  like  circumstances,  and  drinking  in 
with  greedy  lungs  the  refreshment  and  stimu- 
lus of  the  great  outside  world.  I  will  not  advise 
you  to  take  a  rest;  I  should  almost  as  soon 
hope  to  persuade  old  Time  to  take  a  vacation; 
but  I  hope  you  will  be  moderate  in  your  indus 
try,  and  not  work  more  than  thirty-six  hours 
out  of  the  twenty-four.  You  must  understand, 
last  of  all,  that  you  are  not  on  any  account  to 


172  MAEIA  SANFORD 

answer  this  letter.  If  it  gives  you  any  pleas- 
ure I  do  not  want  that  pleasure  to  be  taxed 
with  an  associated  responsibility  and  duty. 
This  letter  of  mine  is  a  pure  gratuity,  and  you 
are  not  to  insult  the  beneficent  donor  by  any 
offers  of  repayment.  It  will  not  be  many  days 
anyhow  before  the  sunbeam  that  wakes  you  in 
the  morning  will  have  to  come  to  the  Mississippi 
valley  in  order  to  be  able  to  do  it. ' ' 

In  the  middle  of  the  nineties  the  department 
of  oratory  which  Miss  Sanford  had  labored  so 
hard  to  build  up  was  asked  to  become  a  member 
of  the  Northern  Oratorical  League.  The  en- 
trance into  this  League  gave  new  impetus  to 
the  work  in  oratory,  and  the  Professor  then 
turned  her  attention  to  the  classes  in  debat- 
ing. With  characteristic  energy  she  began  to 
solicit  money  for  prizes  in  debate.  She  wrote 
a  great  many  letters  to  former  students,  ask- 
ing for  five  dollar  contributions.  These  were 
sent  each  year,  as  she  asked  for  them,  by  the 
majority  of  the  men,  but  sometimes  with  words 
of  disapproval.  One  man  thought  that  a 
group  of  wealthy  men  or  some  of  the  alumni 
should  be  assessed  a  regular  yearly  sum  for 
this  purpose.  One  woman  helped  Miss  San- 
ford  out  by  asking  fifty  men  to  pay  five  dollars 
each.  One  man,  a  member  of  the  Board  of 


MARIA  SANFORD  173 

Regents,  and  a  former  student,  refused  because 
he  had  paid  so  much  for  foot  ball.  Miss  San- 
ford  got  the  money  needed  for  the  prizes,  but 
always  at  the  expense  of  great  effort  to  her- 
self, and  sometimes  disappointment  from  people 
whom  she  had  expected  to  contribute. 

The  undergraduates  as  well  as  the  graduates 
were  coming  more  and  more  to  realize  the  value 
of  the  services  she  was  rendering,  and  at- 
tempted in  various  ways  to  show  their  appre- 
ciation. In  1899  the  daily  paper  printed  at  the 
University,  known  at  that  time  as  The  Ariel, 
dedicated  one  issue  to  Miss  Sanford.  A  poem 
in  her  honor  was  written  by  one  of  the  editors. 

To  her  wha  wi'  the  winter's  frost 
Her  spring-time  freshness  hasna  lost, 
Nay  wark  can  fley,  nor  toil  exhaust 

I'  day  or  night, 
For  duty  never  coonts  the  cost 

Gin  'tis  but  right. 

Wha  can  her  youthfu'  vigor  bear 

Wi'  wisdom  o'  a  riper  year, 

An'  speak  her  min'  wi'  sic  a  clear 

Emphatic  soun' 
She's  weel  respeckit  everwhere — 

The  country  roun'. 


174  MARIA  SANFOBD 

Wha  gars  the  lass  take  off  her  bonnet 
And  frowns  if  there 's  a  burdie  on  it, 
And  yet  her  heart's  as  true  as  granite 

An'  kind  as  true, 
An'  if  nae  mon  has  never  won  it, 

It's  yet  to  do. 

Wha  disna  crimp  an '  bang  her  hair, 
Nor  triflin '  gewgaws  disna  wear, 
For  nature 's  plainest  is  maist  fair, 

An'  weel  she  knows 't, 
An'  what  the  warl'  thinks,  disna  care, 

For  that's  her  boast. 

We  dinna  gie  this  as  a  bribe 
We  canna  thus  betray  oor  tribe, 
Nor  is 't  intended  as  a  gibe, 

When  we  confess 
This  Ariel  fondly  we  inscribe 

To  M.L.S. 

Joe  Guthrie,  '00. 

The  students  also  took  active  part  in  a  cam- 
paign which  resulted  this  year  in  giving  Miss 
Sanf ord  one  of  the  unique  pleasures  of  her  life. 
In  the  spring  of  1899  the  Minneapolis  Daily 
Journal  conducted  a  public  school  and  favorite 
teachers'  contest.  There  were  to  be  three 
prizes  for  the  three  most  popular  teachers. 
The  first  was  a  trip  to  Europe;  another  a  trip 
to  the  National  Educational  Convention  in  Los 
Angeles;  another  to  Yellow  Stone  National 


MARIA  SANFORD  175 

Park.  Friends  of  Miss  Sanford  began  to  col- 
lect coupons  with  the  hope  of  obtaining  the  first 
prize  for  her.  She  finally  won  third  prize ;  but 
some  of  the  undergraduate  students  went  to 
the  Journal,  offering  to  add  to  the  money 
needed  for  the  trip  to  Yellowstone  Park  enough 
to  take  Miss  Sanford  to  Europe,  provided  the 
Journal  was  willing  to  make  the  arrangement. 
The  Journal  agreed,  and  Miss  Sanford  had  her 
one  and  only  trip  abroad.  A  party  of  twelve 
left  Minneapolis  together,  on  a  beautiful  day  in 
the  middle  of  June.  Miss  Sanford 's  household 
were  as  excited  as  she  at  the  great  event.  The 
occasion  was  one  of  solemnity  to  her,  and  she 
made  an  unusually  beautiful  prayer  at  dinner. 
The  party  left  for  Montreal  and  from  there 
sailed  for  Liverpool. 

On  the  boat  trip  Miss  Sanford  became  the 
center  of  interest  to  passengers.  She  gave 
readings  and  lectures  to  entertain  them,  and 
they  hovered  around  her.  A  man  and  his  wife 
from  Minneapolis  who  had  never  met  her  had 
passage  on  the  same  boat ;  and  a  common  friend 
wished  to  introduce  them  to  the  Professor.  The 
wife,  after  a  short  visit  with  her,  wished  her 
husband  to  meet  Miss  Sanford  too;  but  she 
knew  that  if  he  were  forewarned  he  would  not 
allow  the  introduction  to  take  place.  He  had 


176  MARIA  SANFOED 

never  seen  her,  but  he  had  heard  of  her  at  the 
University  and  was  strongly  prejudiced  against 
her;  for  even  at  that  time  not  many  women 
were  occupying  prominent  positions,  and  in 
general  he  was  opposed  to  women's  " usurping 
men's  places".  So  his  wife  did  not  say  any- 
thing until  they  were  near  Miss  Sanford's 
steamer  chair  on  the  deck.  The  Professor  im- 
mediately began  to  talk  about  some  of  the  places 
she  hoped  to  visit,  and  about  architecture,  a 
subject  in  which  he  was  intensely  interested. 
He  sat  down  and  listened  to  her,  fascinated  by 
her  intelligence  and  womanliness.  It  was  an 
hour  or  two  before  he  again  joined  his  wife  in 
their  walk  about  the  deck ;  much  of  his  time  the 
rest  of  the  journey  was  spent  in  listening  to 
Miss  Sanford.  The  circle  of  men  around  her 
chair  gradually  grew  larger;  attractive,  pret- 
tily dressed  young  girls  were  deserted  for  this 
plainly  clad  woman  with  her  rare  charm  and 
magnetic  personality. 

In  London  as  elsewhere  Miss  Sanford  spent 
much  of  her  time  in  the  art  galleries.  Though 
her  taste  was  largely  conventional,  she  was  yet 
independent  enough  in  her  judgments  to  ex- 
press a  preference  often  for  paintings  not 
highly  regarded  by  the  critics.  She  was  most 
interested  in  the  old  paintings,  especially  of 


MARIA  SANFORD  177 

the  Virgin  and  Child,  and  in  the  saints.  She 
made  notes  of  her  impressions,  sometimes  not 
at  all  what  an  art  critic  would  notice,  but  things 
that  particularly  interested  her.  The  Doge  Leo- 
nardo Loredani  of  Giovanni  Bellini  she  noticed 
had  beautiful  brown  eyes,  and  Crivelli's  Ma- 
donna and  Child  Enthroned  interested  her  par- 
ticularly because  of  the  red  canopy  above  the 
throne.  Rembrandt's  Woman  Taken  in  Adul- 
tery she  thought  beautiful  because  of  the  sorrow 
and  repentance  of  the  woman. 

When  she  crossed  to  Paris  she  found  the 
days  hardly  long  enough,  and  got  up  at  four 
o'clock  one  morning  to  walk  about  the  city. 
Another  day  she  arose  at  three  o'clock  to  see  a 
cathedral.  She  did  not  go  to  the  hotels,  but 
found  the  cheapest  rooming  places  for  herself, 
and  took  her  meals  at  restaurants,  keeping  a 
daily  account  of  everything  she  spent  for  lodg- 
ing, fees,  and  food,  and  for  pictures.  Her  ex- 
pense account  from  day  to  day  usually  showed 
a  much  larger  sum  spent  for  pictures  than  for 
any  other  item,  and  sometimes  as  much  as  for 
all  other  items  put  together.  In  Italy  she  con- 
tinued to  visit  cathedrals  as  early  as  she  could 
induce  any  one  to  allow  her  to  enter;  some- 
times she  had  to  bribe  attendants.  In  Florence 
the  work  of  Fra  Angelico  particularly  pleased 
12 


178.  MARIA  SANFORD 

her.  The  other  early  artists,  Gentile  da  Fab- 
riano,  Botticelli,  and  Giovanni  da  Bologna 
pleased  her  much  better  than  some  later  paint- 
ers. She  always  expressed  herself  in  later  years 
as  loving  the  Madonnas  of  the  older  artists; 
she  thought  the  work  of  the  modern  painters 
less  spiritual.  Her  breadth  of  religious  sympa- 
thy made  her  feel  at  home  in  the  Catholic  ser- 
vices and  on  one  occasion  she  wrote:  "I  at- 
tended early  mass  at  the  Cathedral.  I  have 
rarely  seen  one  more  impressive.  As  I  listened 
to  the  low,  musical  words  of  the  service,  not 
hurried  through  as  our  English  ritual  often  is, 
but  given  with  reverence  and  feeling,  my  own 
heart  cried  out  to  God  for  forgiveness  and 
blessing. ' ' 

Though  she  had  no  friends  in  Europe  she  had 
carried  from  home  letters  of  introduction  to 
people  who  would  give  her  shelter  during  her 
stay  in  Venice  and  Rome.  After  two  months 
of  sight-seeing  she  set  her  face  westward.  On 
her  way  home  she  checked  up  her  account  and 
noted  that  the  trip  had  actually  cost  her  one 
hundred  forty-one  dollars.  She  had  saved  in  all 
twenty- seven  dollars  of  the  money  given  her 
for  the  trip.  The  sum  did  not  include  the  much 
larger  amount  paid  for  pictures  which  she  had 
bought  to  use  in  her  art  lectures.  She  returned 


MARIA  SANFORD  179 

to  her  classes  in  the  best  of  spirits,  having  actu- 
ally seen  and  absorbed  more  in  the  two  months 
than  many  people  with  more  leisure  and  many 
times  more  money  sometimes  get  in  the  same 
number  of  years. 

Her  pathway  was  not  yet  however  to  be  one 
of  ease.  The  next  school  year  was  one  of  great 
stress  for  her.  Early  in  the  year  she  received 
a  letter  from  the  President  requesting  her  to 
discontinue  taking  money  from  students  for 
private  tutoring,  on  the  ground  that  all  the  time 
she  gave  to  students  belonged  to  the  Univer- 
sity. He  told  her  that  the  faculty  had  been 
very  much  excited  over  the  matter.  Two  weeks 
later  he  wrote  her  another  letter  saying  that  a 
resolution  had  been  introduced  into  the  Board 
of  Regents  and  laid  on  the  table  for  considera- 
tion at  a  meeting  to  be  held  early  in  June, 
1900,  providing  that  several  members  of  the 
University  faculty,  including  Miss  Sanford, 
should  terminate  their  connection  with  the  Uni- 
versity at  the  end  of  the  college  year  1901. 

For  this  blow  Miss  Sanford  was  wholly  un- 
prepared. It  staggered  her  at  first,  as  it  did 
the  other  members  who  were  in  the  same  situa- 
tion. Miss  Sanford  was  the  only  woman  among 
the  professors  mentioned,  but  she  was  the  first 
to  recover  courage.  Long  before  the  next 


180  MARIA  SANFORD 

meeting  of  the  Regents  the  daily  papers  printed 
an  account  of  the  proposed  action.  A  student 
reporter  from  the  University  had  obtained  the 
news.  This  at  the  time  was  thought  to  be  a 
great  misfortune*  but  in  the  end  turned  out  hap- 
pily for  the  professors.  Friends  and  alumni 
and  clubs  from  all  over  the  state  began  to  pro- 
test. One  prominent  man  wrote  to  Miss  San- 
ford  :  ' '  Ever  since  I  read  in  our  daily  papers 
of  the  prospect  of  your  severing  your  relations 
with  the  State  University  at  the  end  of  the 
present  year,  I  have  been  much  distressed  about 
the  whole  matter.  I  cannot  remove  from  my 
niind  the  impression  that  a  serious  blunder  has 
been  committed  somewhere.  As  one  of  your 
old  students,  and  as  one  who  has  sat  under 
your  instruction  for  four  years'  time,  my 
acquaintance  with  you  and  your  work  since, 
and  from  the  multitude  of  testimonials  of  your 
work  and  influence  at  the  University,  I  feel 
sure  that  the  Board  of  Regents  are  taking  a 
step  which  can  only  be  a  subject  of  serious  re- 
gret if  your  resignation  should  be  accepted  as 
has  been  intimated.  A  great  number  of  your 
friends  have  also  in  my  hearing  expressed 
similar  sentiments,  and  I  have  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  this  sentiment  is  very  wide  spread 
throughout  the  community. 


MARIA  SANFORD  181 

"You  have  acquired  a  prominence  in  connec- 
tion with  the  moral  and  artistic  upbuilding  of 
our  city  and  state  at  large  which  our  citizens 
can  not  help  remembering ;  and  in  ways  which 
it  is  hard  to  explain  we  can  not  afford  to  dis- 
pense with  your  services  in  this  community. 
I  am  not  only  willing,  but  shall  take  the  first 
opportunity  to  speak  to  any  Regent  of  the  State 
University  whom  I  know  and  may  meet  in 
reference  to  this  matter. ' ' 

These  sentiments  were  echoed  on  every  side. 
The  same  month  the  Woman's  Council  of 
Minneapolis,  which  later  became  the  "Woman's 
Club,  wrote  the  following  resolution  of  appre- 
ciation and  presented  it  to  President  Northrop 
of  the  State  University. 

"Be  it  resolved,  That  the  Woman's  Council 
takes  this  opportunity  to  extend  to  Professor 
Maria  L.  Sanford  its  heartiest  thanks,  and  as 
mothers,  sisters  and  daughters  to  express  our 
confidence  in  her  as  a  guide  and  inspiration  to 
all  those  who  have  come  under  her  instruction 
at  our  great  University.  We  have  abundant 
testimony  of  her  far-reaching  influence  in  her 
home  city,  throughout  our  state  and  adjoining 
states,  and  we  desire  that  this  expression  of 
our  love  and  confidence  in  her  as  an  educator 


182  MARIA  SANFORD 

should  be  conveyed  to  the  Board  of  Regents  of 
the  University  of  Minnesota." 

Similar  expressions  of  confidence  in  Miss  San- 
ford  and  of  protest  at  her  resignation  from  the 
University  poured  in,  and  the  result  was  that 
none  of  the  members  of  the  faculty  who  had 
been  named  was  dismissed.  Miss  Sanford, 
however,  in  the  summer  of  1900,  applied  for  the 
presidency  of  the  University  of  Idaho,  feeling 
that  it  might  be  better  for  her  to  go  away ;  and 
turning  her  face  toward  the  pioneer  sections 
of  the  country  she  went  herself  to  Idaho ;  but 
as  had  been  the  case  all  her  life,  the  Regents 
objected  to  a  woman  in  the  position  that  she 
was  seeking.  She  remained  at  the  University 
of  Minnesota ;  but  a  year  later  was  notified  that 
the  Regents  had  reduced  her  salary  from  twen- 
ty-four hundred  to  eighteen  hundred  dollars. 
There  were  some  members  of  the  faculty  who 
added  to  Miss  Sanford 's  trials  by  criticising 
her  method  of  conducting  her  department. 
This  caused  her  so  much  trouble  that  she  was 
obliged  to  appeal  to  the  President,  and  to  ex- 
plain to  him  that  although  she  did  not  work 
exactly  as  some  of  the  others  did,  she  could  do 
as  good  and  lasting  work  as  they  could.  She 
reminded  him  that  she  had  won  wide  reputa- 
tion by  her  success  as  a  teacher  before  some  of 


MARIA  SANFORD  183 

her  critics  were  out  of  the  grammar  school; 
remarking  that  it  was  as  much  an  impertinence 
for  them  to  interfere  with  her  department  as 
it  would  be  to  interfere  with  some  of  the  men 
heads  of  other  departments.  Her  plea  was  ef- 
fectual to  some  extent,  but  peace  was  never  of 
long  duration. 


CHAPTEE  VII 
THE   END   OF   THE   TEACHER'S  ROAD 

The  great  cut  in  Miss  Sanford's  salary  of 
course  rendered  it  more  difficult  for  her  to  make 
the  payments  on  her  debt.  In  addition  she  had 
some  new  calls  for  help  from  members  of  her 
family  which  were  as  urgent  as  they  would  be 
to  a  mother.  She  felt  with  Thomas  Carlyle 
that  "If  you  have  brothers,  sisters,  a  father,  a 
mother,  weigh  earnestly  what  claim  does  lie 
upon  you  in  behalf  of  each,  and  consider  it  as 
the  one  thing  needful  to  pay  them  more  and 
more  honestly  and  nobly  what  you  owe.  What 
matter  how  miserable  one  is  if  one  can  do  that ! 
That  is  the  sure  and  steady  disconnection  and 
extinguishment  of  whatever  miseries  one  has 
in  this  world. "  The  family  of  one  of  Miss 
Sanford's  near  relations  was  in  distress  and 
Miss  Sanford  had  to  spare  from  her  meager 
salary  enough  to  help  them  out.  Throughout 
her  entire  life  the  call  of  her  family  always 
came  first. 

She  did  not  overlook  her  neighbors  in  these 
184 


MARIA  SANFORD  185 

distressful  times  as  the  following  note  from 
one  of  them  shows:  " Thank  you  very  much 
for  the  wood,  but  you  mustn't  send  any  more. 
I  feel  that  you  surely  could  use  it  yourself  some 
time  if  you  would  only  keep  it.  You  have  done 
so  much  for  us  that  we  could  never  repay  you 
and  I  do  not  want  to  think  of  it  that  way;  but 
for  a  year  I  have  longed  to  show  you  how  much 
we  think  of  you  and  do  something  in  our  turn ; 
only  the  way  is  not  opened  up  yet.  If  you 
knew  how  I  loved  to  bake  you  a  little  loaf  of 
bread  when  I  baked  for  our  own  people  you 
surely  would  let  me  do  it  every  time  I  bake. ' ' 

From  time  to  time  tributes  continued  to  ap- 
pear in  the  University  publications.  One  Val- 
entine Day  the  Registrar  of  the  University,  a 
former  student  of  Miss  Sanford  and  also  a  for- 
mer member  of  her  household,  printed  in  the 
Alumni  Weekly  the  following  characterization : 

Vivid,  buoyant, 

Tireless,  fluent; 

Full  of  vim, 

An  occasional  whim; 

Never  a  shirk, 

Not  afraid  of  work, 

For  mind  or  heart  or  hand ; 

A  lover  of  beauty, 

A  doer  of  duty, 

As  quick  to  obey  as  command; 


186  MARIA  SANFORD 

A  brain  right  clear, 
i    A  heart  full  of  cheer, 

Eloquent  lips  touched  by  altar's  coal; 

She  was  still  humanly, 

Just  plain  womanly, 

With  a  face  index  of  a  beautiful  soul ; 

Just  as  good  as  she  was  great, 

The  best-loved  woman  of  the  North  Star  State. 

E.  B.  Johnson. 

The  next  year  in  the  University  Magazine 
appeared  another  student  poem. 

Ripe  wisdom,  fruit  of  long  experience, 

To  grace  her  work  she  brings; 
The  Brotherhood  of  Man  she  cherishes, 

And  hopes  of  better  things. 

In  doing  good  she  goes  about,  like  One 

Who  taught  us  long  ago; 
Her  lips  speak  from  a  heart  forever  young ; 

God  bless  and  keep  her  so ! 

Vesta  Cornish  Armstrong. 

The  Governor  of  Minnesota  in  1903  ap- 
pointed Miss  Sanford  a  delegate  to  the  Prison 
Association.  She  understood  this  to  imply  that 
he  had  confidence  in  her  ability  and  wished  to 
show  himself  friendly  to  her ;  and  in  her  letter 
of  thanks  for  the  appointment  she  wrote:  "I 
believe  I  shall  be  able  to  prove  that  those  who 
had  confidence  in  me  were  right.  I  shall  try  to 


MARIA  SANFORD  187 

bear  my  present  humiliations  with  dignity  and 
by  my  faithfulness  and  devotion  to  duty  to  con- 
vince all  who  are  willing  to  be  fair  minded  how 
grave  an  injustice  has  been  done  me." 

This  does  not  mean  that  Miss  Sanford  made 
no  protest  at  the  great  reduction  in  her  salary. 
She  wrote  the  Board  of  Regents  a  moving  let- 
ter in  which  she  said:  "I  do  not  ask  at  this 
time  any  change  in  my  salary.  I  appreciate  the 
difficulties  of  the  present  situation  and  I  am 
willing  to  wait  for  better  times;  but  I  do 
earnestly  request  you  as  men  who  want  to  do 
what  is  just  and  right  to  inform  yourselves  as 
to  the  condition  of  my  department.  It  is  not 
the  reduction  of  this  year  against  which  I  pro- 
test but  my  reduction  from  the  rank  I  held.  My 
pride  in  my  professional  reputation  is  very 
great  and  the  degradation  which  I  have  suffered 
has  been  far  harder  than  the  privation  which 
the  change  has  brought,  although  the  latter 
would  be  considered  very  severe  by  any  one 
who  knew  its  extent.  My  age  has  been  men- 
tioned as  a  reason  for  this  reduction,  but  where 
can  you  find  a  woman  of  thirty-five  or  forty  or 
a  man  of  that  age  who  has  more  vigor  and  endur- 
ance, and  where  a  professor  who  puts  in  more 
hours  of  effective  work?  I  am  carrying  now 
eighteen  hours  of  recitation  per  week  besides 


188  MAEIA  SANFORD 

managing  my  department  and  giving  it  super- 
vision and  preparation  of  public  debates  and 
oratorical  contests  which  take  a  large  amount 
of  time.  Is  it  right  that  a  person  doing  this 
work  and  doing  it  well  should  be  hampered  and 
crippled  by  a  salary  which  compels  her  to  do 
menial  work  to  pay  for  a  bare  living?  Under 
the  circumstances  under  which  I  am  placed, 
and  which  when  all  told  would  hardly  be  con- 
sidered discreditable  to  me,  I  can  not  live  with- 
out such  labor.  Years  ago  I  made  pledges  of 
monthly  payments  which  I  must  keep,  and  I 
have  with  my  present  salary  just  thirteen  dol- 
lars left  to  meet  my  own  expenses.  Trusting 
to  your  honor  and  sense  of  justice,  I  shall  go 
on  working  hard  and  meeting  privations  cheer- 
fully, believing  the  time  will  come  when  I  shall 
have  the  great  delight  of  full  vindication  and 
the  complete  restoration  of  my  salary. " 

Miss  Sanford's  troubles  however  were  not 
yet  over,  as  was  indicated  by  a  remark  made  to 
her  by  the  President  in  June,  1904.  Eeferring 
to  the  Eegents  he  said,  "They  are  after  your 
department  anyway  and  will  be  as  long  as  you 
are  there."  That  this  was  known  outside  the 
University  was  shown  by  a  letter  written  by 
the  President  of  the  Minnesota  Federation  of 
Women's  Clubs  to  Miss  Sanford,  telling  her 


MAEIA  SANFORD  189 

that  she  had  heard  that  there  was  a  scheme 
against  the  professor  and  asking  if  the  Fed- 
eration might  be  allowed  to  protest,  saying  that 
they  did  not  want  to  meddle  or  in  any  way  want 
to  interfere  unless  they  could  be  of  help. 

In  April  1905  Miss  Sanford  at  the  request  of 
the  President  sent  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Sal- 
ary Committee  of  the  Board  of  Regents  a  com- 
parison of  her  work  with  that  of  five  other 
heads  of  departments  closely  associated  with 
her.  The  comparison  gave  the  work  of  each 
professor  in  each  department,  the  number  of 
his  classes,  the  number  of  students  in  each,  and 
the  number  of  hours  a  week  given  to  each  class. 
This  comparison  showed  not  only  that  her  de- 
partment had  the  largest  number  of  students 
but  that  she  taught  the  largest  number  of 
classes.  She  asked  to  have  enough  money  for 
her  department  with  which  to  employ  compe- 
tent teachers  and  also  to  give  her  the  salary 
which  her  work  should  command.  She  closed 
her  letter  with  the  following  plea:  "More 
earnestly  than  I  ask  for  justice  for  myself  I 
ask  that  I  may  have  for  my  department  the 
salaries  that  will  retain  efficient  instructors  and 
encourage  those  that  are  doing  good  work  for 
small  pay. ' ' 

This  year  she,  as  well  as  many  other  members 


190  MARIA  SANFORD 

of  the  faculty,  had  the  hardship  of  being  obliged 
to  hunt  for  recitation  rooms  in  any  vacant  spot 
on  the  campus.  The  Old  Main  building  had 
burned  to  the  ground  the  year  before  and  many 
of  her  pictures  and  books  had  been  destroyed 
and  others  ruined  by  smoke  and  water.  Miss 
Sanf ord  found  a  desk  for  herself  in  the  Libra- 
rian 's  private  office,  and  for  class  work  she  had 
to  go  from  one  building  to  another.  The  classes 
of  her  assistants  were  scattered  all  over  the 
campus.  Some  were  held  in  the  store  room  of 
the  School  of  Mines,  where  the  students  dis- 
cussed the  poetry  of  Browning  and  Kipling  in 
the  uncongenial  company  of  barrels  and  boxes 
of  ores.  Other  classes  were  held  in  the  base- 
ment of  Pillsbury  Hall  in  the  Animal  Biology 
department;  and  two  classes  at  a  time,  one  in 
Rhetoric  and  one  in  French,  were  held  a  few 
feet  from  each  other  in  the  museum  of  the  Bio- 
logical department  with  skeletons  of  prehis- 
toric animals  as  decorations  for  the  class 
rooms.  Some  were  held  in  the  Physics  build- 
ing. As  Miss  Sanf  ord 's  department  was  the 
largest  one  in  the  University  this  meant  more 
scattering  about  for  her  work  than  for  that  of 
any  of  the  others.  This  continued  for  two 
years  until  Folwell  Hall  was  completed  in  the 
fall  of  1907,  when  she  had  her  department  to- 


MAEIA  SANFOED  191 

gether  again  on  the  third  floor  of  the  new  build- 
ing. 

This  year  was  memorable  also  as  the  one  in 
which  she  was  obliged  to  leave  the  home  in 
which  she  had  lived  since  1881,  and  which  stu- 
dents had  so  long  felt  to  be  unalterably  asso- 
ciated with  her.  Many  owed  their  chance  for  a 
university  education  to  their  being  sheltered 
there.  The  single  pine  tree  on  the  corner  of 
her  lawn,  slanted  but  never  bent  or  broken  by 
the  frequent  Minnesota  blizzards,  seemed  sym- 
bolic of  the  life  she  had  led  in  the  home  she 
loved  so  well.  Though  it  never  attained  the 
size  of  a  forest  pine  it  was  for  many  years  a 
land  mark  of  the  South  East  side  and  asso- 
ciated in  the  minds  of  hundreds  of  students  with 
a  professor  whose  memory  remained  as  fresh 
as  its  evergreen  branches.  Financial  embar- 
rassment obliged  her  to  give  up  this  home  and 
take  a  house  in  a  new  neighborhood  a  mile  from 
the  University.  To  one  of  her  friends  she  said 
that  the  removal  from  that  home  tore  her  heart 
up  by  the  roots;  it  seemed  like  tearing  an  oak 
out  of  the  ground  for  her  to  move.  Yet  she 
began  at  once  to  make  herself  felt  in  her  new 
environment.  She  took  her  church  letter  to  the 
small  church  near  her.  She  often  preached 
when  the  minister  was  away  or  sick.  She  fre- 


192  MARIA  SANFOED 

quently  said  she  loved  more  to  preach  than  to 
teach  or  to  lecture,  and  thought  her  real  life 
work  should  have  been  preaching.  In  a  year 
from  the  time  she  moved,  an  old  resident  of  that 
part  of  the  city  said  Miss  Sanford  had  done 
more  for  the  neighborhood  and  the  church  in  a 
year  than  any  one  else  had  done  in  all  the 
twenty-five  years  of  her  own  residence  there. 
Miss  Sanford,  in  writing  to  a  friend  at  this 
time,  said,  ' 'I  do  have  a  good  time.  I  do  enjoy 
my  days — every  one  of  them — and  I  often  say, 
'The  lines  have  fallen  to  me  in  pleasant 
places.'  " 

Her  real  power  in  the  work  of  her  church  is 
shown  in  the  history  of  Congregational  Work 
In  Minnesota  compiled  by  the  archaeologist 
of  the  State  Historical  Society  of  Minnesota. 
In  the  chapter  on  Women's  Work  For  Mis- 
sions written  by  Dr.  Margaret  Evans  Hunt- 
ington,  for  many  years  Dean  of  Women  of 
Carleton  College,  is  the  following:  "Congre- 
gational Women  have  had  their  due  part  in  the 
educational  progress  of  Minnesota.  The  out- 
standing example  among  these  women  is  Miss 
Maria  L.  Sanford  .  .  .  her  magnetic  per- 
sonality and  resonant  voice  and  sympathetic 
womanly  understanding  gave  a  new  atmosphere 
to  the  University  and  especially  to  the  young 


MAEIA  SANFORD  193 

women  there  .  .  .  her  co-operation  in  every 
good  work,  her  fearless  advocacy  of  unpopular 
causes  are  noteworthy  .  .  .  she  by  her  ethical 
standards,  her  ever  ready  sympathy  with  all  the 
efforts  of  her  pastor  or  fellow  members  had  a 
large  place  in  church  life.  Her  best  memorial 
will  be  the  noble  lives  of  those  whom  she  has 
stimulated  and  helped. ' ' 

In  the  same  work  the  Kev.  S.  W.  Dickinson, 
in  his  chapter  The  Part  Congregationalists 
Have  Had  in  the  Charities  of  Minnesota,  in 
reference  to  Miss  Sanford  wrote :  "More  than 
any  other  woman  of  her  time  she  had  an  abid- 
ing influence  upon  the  young  men  and  women 
who  passed  through  the  State  University. 
It  was  through  her  efforts  that  the  girls  were 
separated  from  the  boys  in  the  Training  School 
at  Bed  "Wing  and  that  a  home  was  established 
for  them  at  Sauk  Center." 

Miss  Sanford 's  new  home  had  some  apple 
trees,  a  garden,  a  lawn  and  a  barn.  She 
planted  more  trees  in  front  of  her  house,  and 
got  some  chickens  for  the  barn.  For  a  time 
one  of  her  elderly  friends  to  whom  she  had  for 
many  years  owed  money  lived  with  her  in  this 
house  and  for  amusement  cared  for  the  chick- 
ens. Miss  Sanford  became  as  much  interested 
in  pure  blood  Plymouth  Rock  chickens  as  she 
is 


194  MAEIA  SANFORD 

had  always  been  in  fresh  air.  She  always 
walked  back  and  forth  from  the  University  to 
her  home,  and  usually  winter  as  well  as  sum- 
mer, went  bareheaded.  Nearly  always  her 
arms  were  filled  with  books  or  baskets  or 
bundles  of  some  sort.  Frequently  she  carried 
home  a  basket  on  the  top  of  which  a  pile  of 
books  was  placed.  Men  students  on  their  way 
would  always  relieve  her  of  the  baskets.  Smil- 
ingly she  told  some  friends  that  underneath  the 
pile  of  books  she  had  some  scraps  from  the 
kitchen  of  a  friend,  which  she  took  home  for  the 
chickens.  She  had  placed  the  books  on  top  of 
the  basket  so  that  the  boys  would  not  be  humili- 
ated by  the  knowledge  that  they  were  carrying 
chicken  feed. 

But  her  greatest  interest  in  her  new  home 
was  in  her  beautiful  apple  trees.  She  watched 
the  blossoms  in  the  spring.  She  had  a  sleeping 
porch  built  at  the  back  of  the  house  and  a  door 
opening  close  to  the  green  boughs.  She  used 
to  say  that  no  king  had  a  more  wonderful  place 
than  she  in  her  sleeping  porch  right  among  the 
branches.  She  had  never  before  had  fruit  trees 
of  her  own,  and  she  anticipated  the  time  when 
her  apples  would  be  ready  to  eat.  But  the  first 
fall  just  when  the  fruit  was  getting  ripe  Miss 
Sanford  found  out  that  small  boys  are  no  re- 


MARIA  SANFORD  195 

specters  of  other  people's  apple  trees.  She 
said  that  she  took  to  sleeping  under  her  trees 
nights  to  prevent  boys  from  taking  the  fruit; 
but  she  soon  realized  that  she  could  not  stay  by 
them  all  day,  and  the  boys  could  take  apples  in 
the  day  time  as  well  as  at  night. 

She,  however,  thought  of  a  remedy  which 
was  characteristic  of  her,  but  which  no  one  else 
in  the  neighborhood  had  ever  thought  of.  She 
went  around  to  the  seed  houses  in  Minneapolis 
and  to  the  nursery  men  and  asked  them  to  give 
or  sell  her  for  a  small  sum  seedling  apple  trees 
and  other  fruit  trees  or  flowering  shrubs  and 
plants.  Then  she  called  the  children  of  the 
neighborhood  together  and  told  them  she  had 
these  things  to  sell  to  them  at  a  very  small 
price.  To  those  who  were  unable  to  pay  Miss 
Sanford  gave  an  apple  tree.  But  it  was  never 
her  policy  to  give  things  which  people  ought  to 
buy,  and  in  some  way  or  other  she  made  the 
children  pay;  if  not  in  money,  then  in  labor. 
She  told  the  children  that  they  could  each  have 
their  own  apple  trees,  raise  their  own  apples, 
and  have  their  own  flower  and  vegetable  gar- 
dens. She  encouraged  them  by  visiting  their 
gardens  and  offering  prizes  for  the  best  flowers 
the  children  could  raise.  Whether  she  ever 
had  any  more  trouble  with  children  stealing  her 


196  MARIA  SANFOED 

apples  she  never  said;  but  if  so,  it  is  safe  to 
say  it  was  not  from  the  same  children  who  re- 
ceived these  trees.  This  incident  so  endeared 
her  to  the  neighborhood  that  she  was  ever  after- 
ward regarded  as  its  benefactor.  In  the  next 
fifteen  years  of  her  life  she  grew  into  this 
home  as  she  had  done  in  her  earlier  one,  but 
doubtless  never  had  quite  the  same  affection 
for  it  that  she  had  for  the  other.  She  felt  such 
an  attachment  to  it  that  in  the  memorandum  of 
her  wishes  she  asked  the  niece  to  whom  she  left 
the  home  to  continue  to  live  in  it  and  not  sell  it. 
December  19, 1906,  Miss  Sanford  reached  her 
seventieth  birthday  and  her  twenty-sixth  year 
in  the  JJniversity.  The  Women's  League  of 
the  University  held  a  reception  for  her  in  Alice 
Shevlin  Hall,  the  woman's  hall  which  had  been 
built  on  the  site  of  the  Old  Main.  The  Presi- 
dent and  his  wife,  the  Governor  of  the  state  and 
his  wife,  the  deans  of  the  University  with  their 
wives,  and  the  only  other  woman  professor  in 
the  University  received  with  Miss  Sanford. 
Hundreds  of  former  students  and  friends  were 
present  on  this  occasion,  and  the  hall  in  the  new 
woman's  building  was  crowded.  All  seemed 
anxious  to  make  Miss  Sanford  feel  how  much 
they  owed  her.  The  Alumnae  had  a  portrait 
of  Miss  Sanford  painted  by  a  Minnesota  artist, 


MAEIA  SANFOBD  197 

Miss  Grace  McKinstry,  which  was  placed  in 
Alice  Shevlin  Hall  as  a  fitting  expression  of 
their  appreciation.  The  artist  said  later  that 
Miss  Sanford  was  the  most  difficult  sitter  she 
had  ever  had;  because  the  only  time  she  had 
free  was  at  noon  when  she  was  so  weary 
she  fell  asleep.  The  Women's  League  of  the 
University  in  memory  of  the  occasion  desired 
to  make  Miss  Sanford  a  present  personal 
enough  to  remind  her  of  the  very  affectionate 
regard  in  which  she  was  held;  and  they  with 
other  friends  made  up  a  purse  which  they  gave 
her  to  buy  a  coat  and  muff.  She  told  them  she 
never  had  expected  to  own  so  fine  a  garment, 
but  that  they  might  rest  assured  it  was  the  same 
woman  inside  that  they  had  known  all  along. 
She  wrote  to  a  friend  after  the  reception  "if  I 
had  not  been  battered  by  the  rebuff  of  years  I 
might  have  had  the  big  head,  but  I  think  I  am 
safe.  It  did,  however,  make  life  seem  very 
beautiful  to  me  to  feel  so  much  of  sympathy 
and  love."  One  other  gift  which  she  received 
late  in  life  gave  her  unique  pleasure  because  it 
was  the  only  jewelry  she  ever  possessed.  This 
was  a  beautiful  gold  watch  and  chain  given  her 
by  her  Sunday  School  class.  The  satisfaction 
she  took  in  wearing  these  could  hardly  be  un- 
derstood by  the  many  women  to  whom  a  watch 


198  MAEIA  SANFORD 

is  as  much  a  part  of  every  day  dress  as  a  hat 
or  gloves. 

There  was  very  general  appreciation  of  Miss 
Sanford's  service  to  the  State  of  Minnesota  of 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  but  there 
were  still  troubles  ahead  of  her  at  the  Univer- 
sity. Five  months  after  this  celebration  she 
wrote  a  will,  one  among  many  which  she  wrote 
out  and  dated  from  time  to  time,  knowing  that 
they  had  no  legal  value,  but  believing  that  her 
heirs  would  respect  her  wishes.  She  kept  all 
of  them.  In  the  one  written  at  this  time,  she 
was  in  such  stress  of  mind  that  she  closed  it 
with  the  sentence,  "If  I  should  lose  my  mind 
and  live,  do,  I  beg,  quietly  put  me  to  sleep. ' ' 

In  May,  1907,  Miss  Sanford  not  having  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  from  the  salary  committtee 
of  the  Regents  what  she  felt  she  needed  for  her 
department  appealed  to  the  Governor  regard- 
ing what  she  felt  to  be  injustice.  Among  other 
things  she  stated,  "I  do  want  recognition  of 
the  value  of  my  work,  and  there  are  other  grave 
reasons  why  my  salary  should  be  made  equal 
to  others  in  the  same  rank.  In  the  first  place 
I  am  determined  to  make  my  department  shine. 
I  shall  work  as  never  before  to  improve  it  in 
every  way.  I  am  hindered  by  poverty,  by  many 
petty  cares  and  economies  which  take  time  and 


MAEIA  SANFORD  199 

energy.  For  years  I  have  put  in  all  my  salary 
to  pay  my  debts.  The  lecturing  which  I  have 
done  in  order  to  get  money  on  which  to  live  has 
brought  me  about  two  hundred  fifty  dollars 
yearly,  but  it  has  really  been  more  wearing 
than  all  my  University  work.  Ought  I  to  be 
compelled  to  do  this?  I  do  not  let  it  rob  the 
class  of  my  time,  but  it  does  take  my  strength. 
It  is  good  for  me  and  for  the  University  that  I 
give  some  lectures,  but  not  that  I  be  obliged  to 
depend  upon  them  to  live.  If  my  salary  could 
be  made  three  thousand  dollars  for  five  years 
I  could  clear  off  all  this  debt  that  weighs  me 
down.  I  know  I  have  no  claim  because  of  my 
debt,  but  I  do  think  it  is  some  credit  that  I  chose 
to  pay  it  when  even  Governor  Pillsbury  advised 
me  to  repudiate  it,  and  the  fact  that  I  have  this 
burden  is  an  added  reason  why  I  should  have 
the  salary  I  justly  earn." 

By  the  close  of  the  school  year  it  was  known 
that  Miss  Sanford  would  retire  in  two  years 
more.  Her  salary  was  increased  as  she  had 
requested  to  three  thousand  dollars,  but  as  she 
had  only  two  years  more  of  University  work, 
she  was,  at  the  time  of  her  retirement,  still 
heavily  in  debt.  The  increase,  however,  en- 
abled her  to  retire  on  a  Carnegie  pension  of 
fifteen  hundred  dollars. 


200  MAEIA  SANFORD 

About  this  time  the  result  of  Miss  Sanford 's 
lectures  at  the  University  on  the  History  of  Art 
began  to  be  shown  in  letters  from  former  stu- 
dents. Some  of  them  said  that  their  first  wish 
to  travel  had  been  aroused  by  those  lectures, 
and  that  their  interest  in  what  they  saw  was 
wonderfully  enhanced  by  her  vivid  descrip- 
tions. To  understand  why  a  professor  of 
rhetoric  gave  art  lectures,  it  is  necessary  to  ex- 
plain that  for  most  of  the  years  Miss  Sanford 
was  at  the  University  there  was  no  art  depart- 
ment. Her  lectures  were  therefore  the  only 
means  hundreds  of  students  had  of  getting  any 
knowledge  whatever  of  the  great  art  of  the 
world.  She  felt  that  justified  her  in  departing 
from  the  work  strictly  belonging  to  her  depart- 
ment. 

After  Miss  Sanford  was  seventy  years  old 
she  sent  to  her  niece  in  Smyrna  for  three  of  the 
young  children  of  the  family,  whom  she  pro- 
posed to  educate.  These  she  sent  to  a  private 
school  in  Minneapolis,  but  outside  school  hours 
they  were  left  at  home  many  hours  of  the  day 
with  no  older  person  to  look  after  them.  Born 
in  a  foreign  country,  they  were  unable  to  adapt 
themselves  at  once  to  American  life.  After  a 
time  one  of  them  returned  home;  one  to  the 
father's  relations  in  Scotland;  the  youngest 


MAEIA  SANFORD  201 

remained  in  this  country,  and  is  still  pursuing 
his  education.  Miss  Sanford  had  raised  so 
many  children  that  the  task  of  taking  three  at 
once  in  her  old  age  did  not  seem  too  much  for 
her. 

In  February,  1909,  shortly  before  she  was  to 
retire,  Miss  Sanford  was  obliged  to  have  an 
operation  for  mastoid  abscess.  Her  age  and 
the  difficulty  of  the  operation  made  her  recov- 
ery seem  a  matter  of  doubt.  She  herself  was 
not  unprepared  for  an  unfavorable  outcome, 
and  before  leaving  her  work  appointed  two 
members  of  her  department  her  literary  exec- 
utors in  case  she  should  not  recover  The  opera- 
tion was  successfully  performed,  and  Miss  San- 
ford was  back  at  her  home  long  before  the  doc- 
tors gave  her  permission  to  raise  her  head  from 
the  pillow.  One  morning  she  announced  that 
she  was  going  home  that  day.  The  doctor 
emphatically  refused  permission;  but  she  re- 
peated her  intention,  and  as  soon  as  he  left  the 
hospital  ordered  the  nurse  to  call  a  carriage. 
She  departed  in  triumph  for  her  home,  and  in 
less  time  than  anybody  had  predicted  was  back 
at  the  University  at  her  regular  class  work. 

The  Senior  class  of  this  year  wishing  to  show 
her  due  honor  on  the  occasion  of  her  retire- 
ment asked  her  to  give  the  commencement  ad- 


202  MAEIA  SANFORD 

dress.  She  felt  this  to  be  the  greatest  honor 
that  had  ever  been  shown  her.  At  commence- 
ment time  papers  in  various  parts  of  the  coun- 
try noted  this  as  being  the  first  time  that  a 
woman  had  ever  been  asked  to  make  such  an 
address  in  a  great  university.  This  memorable 
address  entitled  What  the  University  Can  Do 
For  the  State,  was  considered  one  of  the  best 
commencement  addresses  that  had  been  given  at 
the  University  of  Minnesota.  The  Armory 
was  filled,  and  every  word  of  Miss  Sanford's 
address  could  be  heard  to  the  farthest  corner 
of  the  great  building.  She  had  that  week  been 
made  a  member  of  the  graduating  class,  and 
at  the  close  of  her  address  they  presented  her 
with  an  enormous  bouquet  of  six  dozen  roses, 
one  for  each  of  her  seventy-two  beautiful  years. 
A  poem  in  honor  of  her  retirement  was  written 
by  a  former  student  of  her  own  who  had 
been  for  many  years  a  member  of  her  depart- 
ment. 

EVEN-SONG 

The  full  orb  brightens  as  it  rounds — 
We  hail  the  life  that  onward  fares, 
To  kindly  leisures,  gracious  cares, 

To  lessened  labors,  ampler  crowns. 


MAEIA  SANFORD  203 

0  happy  in  the  powers  that  flee, 

And  happy  in  the  charm  that  stays — 
Light  streams  from  toilful  yesterdays 

And  clear  to-morrows,  calm  and  free. 

Let  gentle  hours  in  rhythmic  sands 

Glide  on;  and  Time  in  reverence  stop, 
And,  gazing  on  her,  pensive,  drop 

The  edgeless  sickle  from  his  hands. 

Let  Rest  come  with  the  touch  benign 

That  soothes  and  stills  the  hurts  of  man, 
And  Age,  the  kind  Samaritan, 

Pour  in  the  healing  oil  and  wine. 

With  harvest  trophies  round  her  shed 
May  the  good  sheaves,  in  order  filed, 
The  sheaves  her  own  hand  reaped  and  piled, 

Be  prop  and  pillow  for  her  head ; 

And  may  in  glad  revival  rise 

For  her  the  deeds  her  bounty  wrought 
In  others'  warm  and  grateful  thought, 

In  cordial  clasp  and  tender  eyes ; 

Nor  ends  the  joy  of  service  now; 

'Tis  autumn's  glow — and  not  the  grief—- 
The bright  fruit,  not  the  withering  leaf, 

That  reddens  on  the  orchard  bough. 

Oscar  W.  Firkins,  '84. 

This  was  the  greatest  day  of  Miss  Sanford's 
life.    She  was  leaving  after  twenty-nine  years 


204  MARIA  SANFORD 

an  institution  which  she  had  seen  grow  from 
three  hundred  students  to  nearly  five  thousand, 
at  this  time  one  of  the  largest  universities  in  the 
country.  At  the  close  of  the  public  exercises 
she  was  invited  to  the  home  of  an  old  friend 
where  a  dinner  to  which  some  of  her  neighbors 
and  closest  friends  had  been  invited  was  given 
in  her  honor.  With  her  enormous  bouquet  she 
rode  in  state  in  her  friend 's  car  first  to  her  own 
home,  where  she  deposited  her  seventy-two 
roses  in  a  wash  tub  full  of  water  in  the  middle 
of  her  kitchen  floor  and  then  returned  to  the 
banquet.  The  next  day  one  of  her  friends  took 
a  photograph  of  Miss  Sanford  standing  on  her 
lawn,  holding  in  her  arms  her  "graduation 
bouquet. ' ' 

Many  of  the  beliefs  Miss  Sanford  had  un- 
waveringly held  from  her  youth  were  reiterated 
in  her  commencement  address.  First  she  de- 
clared that  the  University  should  teach  its  stu- 
dents to  help  solve  the  social  problems  of  the 
time.  "It  is  the  glory  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  peo- 
ples", said  she,  "that  among  them  in  the  great 
struggles  of  the  commons  against  the  nobles, 
of  the  downtrodden  against  the  privileged 
classes  the  oppressed  have  always  found  strong 
supporters  and  wise  leaders  among  the  upper 
classes,  especially  among  the  educated;  and 


MARIA  SANFOED  205 

therefore  the  commons  have  been  restrained 
from  that  bitterness  and  those  excesses  that 
have  marked  political  and  social  revolutions 
among  other  races'.  If  this  is  to  hold  true  in 
our  state  and  nation  it  will  be  by  the  training 
of  the  youth  in  the  traditions  of  our  race,  so 
that  the  rich  and  gifted  may  hear  the  cry  that 
comes  up  from  the  poor  in  their  ignorance  and 
squalor,  and  be  proud  to  come  to  the  rescue,  to 
give  their  minds  and  hearts  to  devise  and  carry 
out  plans  and  measures  of  relief.  The  great- 
est difficulty  in  the  way  of  such  efforts  is  the 
unwillingness  of  the  upper  classes  to  believe 
that  there  is  really  any  wrong  to  be  righted, 
any  injustice  to  be  redressed.  Here  is  the  op- 
portunity of  the  University.  It  takes  the  youth 
of  wealth  and  position,  and  puts  before  them 
facts,  and  opens  their  eyes  to  conditions  they 
might  otherwise  ignore.  It  stirs  them  with 
ambition  to  throw  in  their  power  and  their 
means  among  the  helpers ;  and  sets  before  them 
instead  of  the  paltry  ambition  to  outshine  others 
in  luxury  and  show  the  high  aim  of  helping  to 
solve  the  social  problems  of  their  time,  to  make 
our  state  a  shining  example  of  justice,  happiness 
and  peace." 

She  also  held  it  to  be  the  duty  of  the  Univer- 
sity to  teach  democracy,  and  as  a  preparation 


206  MARIA  SANFORD 

for  this  believed  in  the  necessity  of  sending 
children  of  wealth  to  the  public  schools. 

She  felt  that  the  University  had  hardly  be- 
gun to  enter  upon  its  privilege  of  stimulating 
to  high  scholarship. 

''We  cherish  with  pride,"  she  continued, 
"these  first  fruits  of  scholarship,  but  we  long 
for  a  fuller  harvest.  Our  University  is  coming 
into  its  manhood  and  should  show  a  manly 
grasp  on  intellectual  things.  It  is  the  atmos- 
phere of  learning,  an  eager  grasp  on  the  hard 
tasks  of  scholarship  which  is  the  greatest  need 
of  the  student  body  of  the  University  today. 
.  Everywhere  there  is  a  demand  and 
opportunity  for  those  who  combine  intellectual 
insight  with  a  high  order  of  training  and  skill. 
Life  and  health,  business  and  civil  polity  are 
all  more  or  less  resting  upon  half  knowledge 
and  empirical  deductions.  They  sorely  need 
the  facts  and  principles  which  the  seaich  light 
of  discovery  will  reveal  to  the  sound  judgment 
of  the  broad-minded,  patient,  tireless  scholar. 
Such  scholars  we  have  a  right  to  look  for  among 
the  alumni  of  the  University. ' ' 

Her  belief  that  it  is  rather  will  power  than 
greater  ability  which  is  needed  to  accomplish 
great  things  was  set  forth  with  force  and  vivid- 
ness: "The  causes  of  intellectual  development" 


MAKIA  SANFOED  207 

she  said,  "are  recondite,  and  at  best  are  only 
imperfectly  understood,  but  there  is  good 
reason  to  believe  that  what  is  needed  for  high 
attainment  is  not  so  much  more  brain  as  more 
will,  or  as  some  psychologists  would  phrase  it, 
'the  motive  power  of  those  impulses  and  aims 
that  lead  to  action. '  My  own  conviction  is  that 
more  than  half  our  brain  lies  dormant,  smoth- 
ered under  weak  and  narrow  aims.  As  proof 
of  this  witness  the  intense  power  that  individ- 
uals and  communities  sometimes  develop  under 
the  stress  of  strong  emotion  and  passion.  Let 
each  one  recall  how  he  has  sometimes  gone  quite 
beyond  himself  and  done  what  he  beforehand 
would  have  deemed  impossible.  His  muscular 
and  nerve  power  was  unchanged  but  a  strong 
purpose  summoned  the  brain  and  its  minions 
to  full  activity.  How  great  would  be  our 
achievement  if  we  could  keep  to  this  high  plane, 
not  feverish  excitement  but  full  and  vigorous 
activity,  always  intently  alive.  Individuals 
have  done  this,  have  lived  year  in  and  year  out 
with  all  their  faculties  awake,  and  we  look  with 
wonder  on  what  they  have  accomplished. 
There  are  many  whose  lives  illustrate  my  point. 
I  will  mention  only  two,  both  women,  Mary 
Somerville,  and  Alice  Freeman  Palmer ;  women 
of  calm,  sane,  womanly  lives,  but  of  wonderful 


208  MARIA  SANFORD 

activity.  Mrs.  Somerville  was  so  clear-headed 
a  mathematician  that  she  made  a  perfect  trans- 
lation of  La  Place 's  Mechanism  of  the  Heavens 
when  not  one  hundred  men  in  England  were 
able  to  read  it;  and  was  withal  so  careful  and 
competent  in  her  domestic  duties,  so  devoted 
a  wife  and  mother,  so  charming  a  hostess,  that 
the  critic  Jeffrey,  who  was,  as  we  all  know, 
chary  of  compliments,  when  he  was  visiting  in 
Scotland  and  received  a  letter  from  a  friend 
asking  if  he  had  met  the  women  of  Dumfries, 
'one  of  whom  aspires  to  be  a  blue-stocking  and 
an  astronomer*  replied,  'I  have  met  the  lady 
to  whom  you  refer;  she  may  wear  blue  stock- 
ings but  her  petticoats  are  so  long  I  have  never 
seen  them.'  Of  the  wonderful  life  of  Mrs. 
Palmer  I  hardly  need  to  speak,  it  is  too  fresh  in 
the  memory  of  all ;  we  are  all  too  proud  of  her 
to  need  to  be  reminded  of  what  she  accom- 
plished. The  one  thing  I  do  wish  to  say  is  that 
it  was  with  her,  as  with  Mrs.  Somerville,  vital- 
ity which  was  her  remarkable  gift,  which  made 
her  so  charming  in  society,  so  successful  as  a 
college  president,  such  a  wonder-worker  in 
charity,  so  deft  and  skillful  in  the  duties  of  her 
home — here  as  everywhere  making  'her  labor 
her  delight/ 
"I  have  dwelt  fully  upon  this  point  because 


MARIA  SANFORD  209 

I  believe  men  and  women  would  be  spurred  to 
far  higher  development  if  they  were  convinced 
that  it  is  not  some  special  genius  conferred 
upon  the  few,  but  the  wise  use  of  the  gifts  com- 
mon to  all,  that  makes  life  rich  and  valuable. 
Nations  as  well  as  individuals  have  shown  the 
marvelous  results  of  this  intellectual  activity, 
of  living  up  to  the  full  measure  of  their  powers. 
England  under  Elizabeth,  Athens  in  the  days 
of  Pericles  and  all  Western  Europe  in  the 
Renaissance  are  examples  of  what  is  possible 
when  every  man  is  awake,  when  full  life  throbs 
in  every  vein.  We  cannot  believe  that  men 
were  then  born  with  more  brain  than  is  given 
at  other  periods,  but  some  influence  led  them  to 
use  to  their  full  bent,  and  for  worthy  ends,  the 
powers  that  men  at  other  times  let  sleep. 
There  is  direct  proof  of  this  theory  in  the  vital 
power  that  certain  men  have  given  to  a  whole 
people.  I  need  mention  but  a  single  instance, 
the  influence  of  William  Pitt  on  England.  We 
all  know  how  his  voice  transformed  the  whole 
nation,  how  it  sprang  up  at  his  call  conscious  of 
its  strength.  This  has  been  the  secret  of  the 
success  of  nearly  all  the  great  leaders  of  men ; 
they  knew  how  to  call  up  the  latent  energy  of 
their  followers,  to  put  into  them  a  purpose  and 
a  determination  that  made  them  giants.  Under 

14 


210  MAEIA  SANFOKD 

this  influence  they  seem  to  be  of  other  birth; 
and  the  glory  of  it  is  that  so  far  as  this  trans- 
formation goes,  once  made  conscious  of  their 
power  they  can  never  shrink  back  into  the  idle 
weaklings  they  were  before.  The  men  that 
fought  with  Caesar,  that  stood  by  Clive,  and 
that  conquered  with  Gustavus,  could  never  after 
rank  themselves  with  cowards. 

"The  moral  of  this  for  the  University  is 
plain.  It  may,  it  can,  it  should,  give  to  the 
youth  of  the  state  this  awakening  impulse, 
breathe  into  them  this  breath  of  life,  rouse  them 
not  to  mere  physical  courage  but  to  the  courage 
of  high  conviction,  give  to  them  aims,  ambi- 
tions, purposes,  wrhich  shall  transform,  trans- 
figure their  whole  lives. 

"It  is  the  rare  privilege  of  an  institution  of 
learning  thus  to  speak  to  the  soul, 

So  nigh  is  grandeur  to  our  dust 

So  near  is  God  to  man, 
When  Duty  whispers  low,  Thou  must, 

The  youth  replies,  I  can. 

The  specific  things  which  she  urged  the  stu- 
dents to  work  for  were  those  she  had  for  many 
years  been  advocating  at  every  opportunity; 
things  within  the  ability  of  all.  Said  she :  "If 
but  a  tithe  of  the  students  who  go  forth  each 


MARIA  SANFOBD  211 

year  could  carry  with  them  the  determination 
to  do  something  worthy  and  do  it  with  their 
might,  what  a  glorious  work  would  be  done! 
Then  the  most  obstinate  skeptic  would  cease 
to  doubt  the  value  of  the  University  and  the 
most  hard-fisted  economist  would  no  longer 
grudge  it  abundant  resources. 

"  First  and  foremost  the  student  must  be 
himself  an  example  of  sound,  healthy  living. 
His  own  farm,  his  own  store,  his  own  school 
must  be  kept  trim ;  he  must  be  diligent  and  suc- 
cessful in  business,  because  no  mere  shallow 
enthusiast  can  be  a  leader  of  men.  It  is  always 
what  a  man  is  that  reinforces  a  hundred  fold 
what  he  says  and  does.  But  he  must  be  awake 
to  opportunities  to  help  his  neighbors,  ready 
to  lend  a  hand  to  every  good  work.  He  must 
believe  in  his  neighbors,  see  the  possibilities 
that  lie  dormant  in  them ;  nothing  is  so  deaden- 
ing as  the  conviction  that  nobody  but  one  '&  self 
has  any  desire  for  progress.  Each  one  must 
work  out  his  own  problem;  the  opportunities 
in  no  two  places  are  the  same,  but  in  a  large  city 
or  small  village  there  are  always*  opportunities 
for  the  willing.  Let  me  speak  of  a  few  out  of 
many  things  that  may  be  done.  The  ambition 
to  make  every  town  beautiful  has  already  found 
a  lodgment  in  many  minds,  and  new  plans  and 


212  MAEIA  SANFORD 

helpful  old  ones  will  be  gladly  welcomed ;  shady 
roadsides  stretching  out  from  every  town,  the 
changing  of  unsightly  places  into  lovely  nooks, 
and  the  utilization  of  all  natural  objects  of 
beauty,  these  are  some  of  the  means  by  which 
taste  may  make  Minnesota  the  most  charming 
of  all  places  to  live  in. 

'  *  If  there  is  no  public  library  no  stone  should 
be  left  unturned  until  by  means  of  Mr.  Car- 
negie 's  generous  provisions  one  has  been  estab- 
lished. To  secure  the  right  kind  of  books,  so 
that  the  Library  may  be  a  real  educational  in- 
fluence and  not  merely  a  means  of  amusement, 
will  demand  the  efforts  of  an  educated  man  or 
woman;  and  still  more  to  put  into  the  library 
pictures  that  shall  be  instructive  in  the  history 
of  art.  There  is,  all  over  the  state,  an  awak- 
ening interest  in  art ;  and  to  cultivate  this  taste 
is  to  open  for  the  many  a  rich  mine  of  enjoy- 
ment, and  possibly  to  develop  in  the  few  real 
artistic  gifts." 

The  awakening  interest  in  art  to  which  she 
referred  had  largely  come  about  through  her 
art  lectures  ia  the  University  and  in  other  parts 
of  the  state.  Her  last  suggestion  was  so  novel, 
and  felt  to  be  so  timely,  that  it  has  been  put  into 
practice  in  a  number  of  Minnesota  towns ;  that 
is,  some  means  by  which  young  men  after 


MARIA  SANFORD  213 

graduation  can  continue  their  instruction. 
Her  advice  was  as  follows:  "To  establish  in 
every  town  some  systematic  instruction  for 
adults  is  a  much  needed  work.  Large  sums 
are  freely  spent  to  educate  the  children,  but 
as  soon  as  the  young  people  leave  school  they 
are  considered  able  to  provide  their  own  men- 
tal food ;  and  the  consequence  is,  most  of  them 
starve.  I  regard  this  as  the  great  weakness  of 
our  educational  system.  The  women's  clubs 
are  in  a  measure  filling  up  the  gap ;  but  for  the 
young  men  who  have  completed  high  school  or 
college  there  is  in  most  towns  no  influence  what- 
ever outside  of  their  home  to  stimulate  their 
intellectual  life ;  a  hundred  hands  are  ready  to 
drag  them  down,  but  none  are  stretched  out  to 
keep  them  up.  The  recent  provision-  of  the 
University  for  lecture  courses  is  an  important 
step  in  the  right  direction;  but  the  value  of 
these  lectures  will  be  increased  ten  fold  if  in 
the  towns  there  are  organized  classes  to  study 
and  discuss  the  subjects  presented.  The  old- 
fashioned  lyceum  was  a  strong  educational 
force;  we  need  something  today  to  supply  its 
place.  Let  the  graduate,  wherever  he  makes 
his  home,  plan  to  do  something  in  whatever  line 
he  is  best  fitted  to  bring  his  Universitv  training 
to  bear  directly  upon  the  intellectual  life  of  his 


214  MAEIA  SANFOED 

town.  A  dramatic  club,  a  reading  circle,  a 
band,  a  musical  society, — each  and  all  are  up- 
lifting. " 

She  closed  by  asserting  her  belief  in  the 
essential  religious  influence  for  righteousness 
of  the  University,  even  though  no  creed  or 
dogma  is  taught.  "The  narrow  zeal  of  the 
bigot,"  said  she,  "may  declare  that  the  Uni- 
versity is  irreligious;  but  any  one  who  with 
jealous  care  and  watchfulness  for  the  interests 
of  religion  has  studied  for  years  the  influence 
of  the  University  upon  the  student  body  and 
upon  the  state  must  emphatically  deny  the 
charge.  If  students  sometimes  give  up  tenets 
which  they  held  before,  they  learn  to  reverence 
'their  conscience  as  their  king'  and  to  accept 
'true  religion  and  undefiled,'  'to  deal  justly, 
love  mercy,  and  walk  humbly  before  God. ' 

During  that  commencement  week  telegrams, 
congratulations  and  letters  poured  in  from  all 
over  the  world.  One  document  of  great  im- 
portance was.  a  parchment  presented  by  the 
alumni:  "We,  the  alumni  of  the  University  of 
Minnesota,  thank  you  for  what  you  have  been 
to  your  students.  We  recall  your  eloquence, 
humor,  deep  thrilling  tones,  and  the  earnestness 
and  vigor  of  your  teachings.  The  students  of 
twenty-nine  college  classes  acknowledge  with 


MARIA  SANFORD  215 

gratitude  the  debt  they  owe  your  kindness  and 
wisdom. 

"We  thank  you  for  the  part  you  have  played 
in  the  up-building  of  the  University.  You  came 
to  it  when  it  was  small  and  struggling.  Your 
strength  has  gone  into  its  growth  and  your  free, 
magnanimous  spirit  has  been  wrought  into  its 
substance.  For  what  you  have  meant  to  the 
University  the  Alumni  honor  you. 

"We  thank  you  for  your  service  to  the  State 
of  Minnesota.  By  your  lectures  you  have  car- 
ried inspiration  to  thousands  who  have  never 
seen  the  University.  In  all  the  state  no  woman 
is  so  widely  known  and  so  generally  loved  and 
respected.  For  your  wide-spread  and  noble 
influence  the  Alumni  will  always  revere  you. 

"In  their  appreciation  of  your  wonderful 
personality  and  the  great  value  of  your  work 
the  Alumni  of  the  University  of  Minnesota  pre- 
sent to  you  this  token  of  their  love  and  grati- 
tude/* ' 

A  shorter  document  which  gave  Professor 
Sanford  great  pleasure  was  sent  by  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Board  of  Regents  the  week  after 
commencement  informing  her  that  by  a  vote  of 
the  Board  she  had  been  made  Emeritus  Pro- 
fessor of  Rhetoric. 

Miss  Sanford  was  in  active  service  long  after 


216  MARIA  SANFORD 

the  emphasis  began  to  be  laid  upon  research 
as  a  necessary  part  of  the  work  of  a  college 
professor.  As  she  was  well  known  not  to  be 
a  research  scholar  the  editorial  tribute  in  the 
Alumni  Weekly  at  the  time  of  her  retirement 
was  especially  apt.  "We  have  no  quarrel  with 
the  'new'  college  professor  who  looks  upon  his 
students  as  a  'necessary  evil,'  desiring  to  de- 
vote his  whole  time  to  investigation.  Such 
professors  have  their  place  to  fill  in  the  econo- 
mics of  the  modern  educational  world,  but  we 
are  glad  of  an  opportunity  to  honor  the  teacher 
and  to  point  out  such  notable  examples  of 'suc- 
cessful teaching  as  those  of  the  three  profess- 
ors who  sever  their  connection  with  the  Uni- 
versity at  this  time. 

"Dean  Jones,  Dr.  Brooks  and  Professor  San- 
ford  have  all  won  their  honors  as  teachers 
rather  than  as  investigators.  We  do  not  know 
that  any  one  of  the  three  has  ever  made  a  'con- 
tribution to  knowledge*  in  the  ordinary  accept- 
ance of  that  term,  but  we  do  know  that  they 
have  all  left  their  impress  upon  the  lives  of 
thousands  of  men  and  women,  and  have  given 
those  men  and  women  higher  and  nobler  ideals 
of  life  and  its  meaning  as  well  as  an  ambition  to 
attain.  They  may  have  discovered  no  new  laws 
but  they  have  so  applied  laws  as  old  as  the 


MARIA  SANFORD  217 

world  as  to  have  made  the  world  better  for  their 
having  been  in  it.  We  honor  these  professors 
with  their  old-fashioned  ideas  of  the  dignity  of 
teaching,  and  we  are  free  to  say  that  we  would 
rather  have  their  records  than  the  honor  of  dis- 
covering the  most  abstruse  law  that  has  to  do 
with  mere  things.  We  are  glad  to  do  honor  to 
those  who,  in  these  days,  dare  to  lay  emphasis 
upon  mere  teaching. " 


CHAPTER  VIII 


Only  one  as  intensely  devoted  to  a  life  work 
as  was  Maria  Sanford  can  understand  what  a 
wrench  it  was  for  her,  in  full  vigor  of  mind  and 
body,  as  she  felt  herself,  to  give  up  her  class- 
room work.  At  seventy-two  years  of  age  she 
had  no  desire  to  rest  quietly  at  home  as  her 
pension  would  have  enabled  her  to  do.  In  some 
way  she  determined  to  be  of  service  as  long  as 
her  strength  lasted. 

The  people  of  Minnesota  felt  that  she  still 
belonged  to  the  public,  and  they  believed  she 
would  be  willing  to  continue  to  serve  it.  The 
Minnesota  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs,  feel- 
ing that  Miss  Sanford  would  be  of  great  value 
to  young  people,  asked  the  Regents  of  the  Uni* 
versity  of  Minnesota  that,  if  possible,  Miss  San- 
ford might  be  continued  for  at  least  one  addi- 
tional year  in  the  same  capacity  as  before.  If 
that  were  impossible  they  asked  the  Regents  to 
consider  and  formulate  a  plan  or  method  under 
which  the  influence  and  attainments  of  Pro- 

218 


MARIA  SANFORD  219 

fessor  Sanford  might  be  made  available  to  the 
high  schools  of  Minnesota  in  a  series  of  Bib- 
lical or  other  classical  lectures,  to  be  known  as 
a  University  Extension  Course.  Editorials  in 
the  papers  all  over  the  state,  with  one  exception, 
were  of  the  most  laudatory  character.  One 
writer  expressed  the  hope  that  the  Regents  of 
the  University  would  make  suitable  arrange- 
ments for  Miss  Sanford  to  continue  her  use- 
fulness educationally  in  Minnesota  as  long  as 
her  strength  permitted.  He  considered  that  she 
would  accomplish  more  for  the  public  good  in 
the  capacity  of  a  lecturer  than  would  any  trav- 
eling library ;  because  a  gifted  woman  like  Miss 
Sanford  was  capable  of  exerting  a  stronger 
influence  than  a  mere  book.  He  concluded  by 
saying  that  she  should  be  passed  around  for 
the  good  of  all  communities  that  were  capable 
of  appreciating  her  as  a  brilliant  woman  phi- 
losopher, and  the  sage  of  Minnesota. 

Miss  Sanford  herself  was  undecided  for  a 
time  just  how  to  be  of  most  service.  One  old 
time  friend  in  another  state  urged  that  she 
should  write  stories  for  young  people  in  which 
her  own  high  ideals  of  life  and  living  would  be 
inculcated.  Miss  Sanford  made  some  attempts 
in  that  direction  but  was  not  satisfied  with  the 
results.  Another  old  friend  in  a  distant  state 


220  MARIA  SANFORD 

asked  her  to  have  her  lectures  collected  and 
published  in  a  volume.  There  is  no  indication 
that  she  ever  considered  the  advisability  of 
doing  this. 

The  first  work  that  presented  itself  was  a  call 
to  Atlanta,  Georgia,  to  make  an  address  at  the 
dedicatory  services  of  the  First  Congregational 
church,  the  largest  negro  church  in  Atlanta. 
Miss  Sanford  not  only  lectured  in  this  institu- 
tional church  but  solicited  five  hundred  dollars 
for  its  work  so  that  she  was  made  a  patron  of 
the  church;  and  her  name  now  appears  on  the 
glass  door  of  a  room  next  to  that  of  Theodore 
Roosevelt,  who  was  another  patron.  The  min- 
ister of  the  church  arranged  for  Miss  Sanford 
to  speak  in  a  dozen  other  churches,  schools  and 
universities  for  colored  people  in  Tennessee, 
Florida,  North  Carolina  and  Washington.  So 
popular  were  her  talks  that  she  was  asked  to 
all  of  the  places  again. 

The  next  year  Miss  Sanford  was  still  actively 
interested  in  the  colored  schools  and  churches 
where  she  had  lectured.  President  Taft  that 
year  wrote  a  recommendation  urging  people  to 
give  to  funds  which  Miss  Sanford  was  solicit- 
ing for  a  normal  and  industrial  institute  con- 
ducted for  colored  people  in  Georgia.  The  prin- 
cipal of  the  school  had  written  to  Miss  Sanford, 


MAEIA  SANFORD  221 

"If  you  could  raise  fifteen  thousand  dollars 
for  us  we  would  raise  an  additional  amount  to 
secure  equipment  and  teachers'  salaries,  but  if 
you  would  prefer  to  give  the  amount  to  the  city 
I  feel  sure  that  the  white  and  colored  people 
would  give  the  other  five  thousand  dollars. " 
Such  faith  did  the  people  have  in  a  woman  past 
seventy-three  years  of  age,  a  woman  known  to 
have  not  a  cent  of  money  of  her  own !  She  con- 
tinued for  five  years  longer  to  visit  the  south- 
ern institutions,  and  in  a  six  weeks '  tour  of  the 
eastern  and  southeastern  states  in  1914,  when 
she  was  seventy-eight  years  of  age,  she  gave 
twenty-five  lectures;  the  southern  lectures,  as 
before,  were  arranged  by  the  minister  of  the 
church  in  Atlanta  where  she  had  first  spoken. 
After  the  trip  that  year  Miss  Sanford  wrote 
to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  request- 
ing him  to  use  his  personal  influence  in  a  mat- 
ter which  threatened  that  spirit  of  unity  and 
mutual  respect  which  all  earnestly  desire  to 
see  prevail.  This  was  to  prevent  the  rekindling 
of  sectional  feeling  which  must  result  from  the 
tendency  of  the  present  if  not  wisely  controlled. 
She  referred  to  the  disposition  to  change  the 
present  status  of  the  negro  in  Washington,  and 
mentioned  the  fact  that  the  north  for  many 
years  had  wisely  abstained  from  interference 


222  MAEIA  SANFOED 

with  conditions  in  the  south.  "Should  not," 
she  said,  "a  delicate  sense  of  courtesy  impel 
the  chivalric  spirit  of  the  south  to  decide  that, 
in  so  far  as  our  nation's  capital  is  concerned, 
they  will  respect  the  convictions  of  the  north?" 
Another  interesting  experience  for  Miss  San- 
ford  was  the  invitation  in  1910  to  give  the  me- 
morial address  to  the  G.  A.  E.  It  was  noted 
that  she  was  the  first  woman  to  be  invited  to 
address  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Eepublic.  On 
this  occasion  she  made  a  proposal  that  the  vet- 
erans of  the  North  and  the  South  together 
should  unite  in  a  campaign  for  world  peace, 
and  that  Theodore  Eoosevelt  should  be  com- 
missioned to  lead  the  movement  on  behalf  of 
the  United  States.  Eesolutions  were  offered 
that  day  recommending  that  her  suggestion  be 
carried  out.  Ex-Governor  Van  Sant  of  Minne- 
sota, commander-in-chief  of  the  G.  A.  E.,  was 
asked  to  bring  the  resolution  to  the  attention 
of  comrades  at  the  national  encampment  of  vet- 
erans at  Atlantic  City  the  following  Septem- 
ber. Letters  were  written  to  Miss  Sanford  by 
commanders  of  G.  A.  E.  posts,  in  different  parts 
of  the  state,  thanking  her  for  her  timely,  wise 
and  patriotic  words  and  suggestions.  One  in- 
teresting letter  was  sent  to  her  from  New  York 
enclosing  a  clipping  from  the  New  York  Times 


MARIA  SANFORD  223 

in  reference  to  her  address  to  the  G.  A.  R.  posts 
in  Minneapolis.  The  writer  said  that  he  had 
spoken  on  the  same  topic  in  New  York  on  that 
day. 

The  wish  to  associate  her  name  permanently 
with  the  women  of  the  University  was  ex- 
pressed the  year  after  Miss  Sanford's  retire- 
ment, when  the  first  dormitory  for  University 
girls  was  built  upon  the  campus  and  named  in 
her  honor  Sanford  Hall.  The  dean  of  women 
wrote  to  her  "You  have  never  been  a  believer 
in  dormitories,  I  know.  I  hope  that  your  disbe- 
lief is  not  so  strong  as  to  make  you  reluctant 
to  see  your  name  upon  the  face  of  one." 

Miss  Sanford  now  began  to  be  made  a  mem- 
ber of  many  clubs,  not  only  in  Minneapolis  but 
in  other  parts  of  the  state.  Early  in  1910  she 
was  made  a  life  member  of  the  Rambler's  club, 
which  she  always  thereafter  visited  whenever 
she  was  able.  One  of  her  last  lectures  was  be- 
fore this  club;  she  was  so  feeble  that  she  had 
to  lie  down  after  speaking.  It  was  the  Ram- 
bler's which  first  suggested  the  Sanford  schol- 
arship which  the  State  Federation  of  Women's 
Clubs  started  the  same  year.  This  was  a  re- 
volving loan  fund  for  Senior  girls,  preferably, 
with  a  maximum  loan  of  two  hundred  fifty  dol- 
lars, to  be  paid  in  three  years.  So  promptly 


224  MAEIA  SANFORD 

did  the  students  discharge  their  obligations 
that  the  treasurer  in  her  tenth  annual  report 
said  that  the  young  women  "seemed  to  partake 
of  the  energy  and  spirit  of  her  for  whom  the 
scholarship  was  named."  The  Ladies'  Shakes- 
peare Club,  at  their  nineteenth  annual  banquet, 
gave  honor  to  Miss  Sanford  as  their  chief  guest 
and  addressed  her  in  a  toast  entitled  ' '  Our  Her- 
oine, Maria  Sanford,  her  gentle  spirit  of  devo- 
tion, self-sacrifice  and  culture.  Here's  to  the 
magic  influence  that  has  been  an  uplift  to  thou- 
sands and  has  touched  the  lives  of  each  one  of 
us  in  so  many  countless  ways.  Here's  to  our 
heroine — the  best  known  and  best  loved  woman 
in  our  state,  who  is  so  deservedly  styled  the 
preeminent  woman  philosopher  and  sage  of 
Minnesota."  It  was  this  club,  also,  which  in 
1921  presented  a  beautiful  picture  of  Miss  San- 
ford to  the  State  Historical  Society. 

Though  she  was  so  greatly  interested  in  the 
women's  clubs  of  the  state,  she  had  not  yet  de- 
cided that  her  future  work  was  to  be  largely 
lecturing.  When  she  was  asked  by  friends 
what  kind  of  work  she  was  doing  she  always 
answered  that  it  was  "general  helping."  As 
in  her  earlier  days  so  now  she  was  at  heart  a 
pioneer.  Few  people  at  her  age  would  have 
dreamed  of  going  to  live  in  a  new  country ;  but 


MARIA    SANFORD 


MARIA  SANFORD  225 

Miss  Sanford  became  interested  through 
friends  and  former  students  in  a  scheme  for 
clearing  wild  land  in  Florida.  She  thought  the 
warm  climate  of  that  state  would  be  an  excel- 
lent place  for  the  family  of  the  niece  who  was  a 
missionary  in  Smyrna  to  live  after  they  retired 
from  the  missionary  field.  Some  people  told 
Miss  Sanford  that  she  could  make  fifteen  hun- 
dred dollars  an  acre  on  celery  plants  in  Florida. 
She  decided  late  in  1910  to  go  down  to  the  west 
coast  to  an  out  of  the  way  place,  buy  some  land 
and  clear  it.  For  a  beginning  she  planned  to 
take  some  small  celery  plants.  The  weather 
was  so  cold  that  she  had  to  thaw  out  frozen 
dirt,  sift  it  and  make  it  suitable  for  planting 
celery  seeds.  She  finally  started  out  with  some 
fine  plants,  which  she  carried  in  her  hands  all 
the  way  from  Minneapolis  to  Florida.  Her 
only  companion  on  the  long  journey  was  a 
young  boy  of  fifteen,  a  grand  nephew.  As 
Miss  Sanford  knew  that  she  was  going  to  a 
place  far  from  stores  and  railways  she  carried 
with  her  also  a  hoe,  a  spade  and  a  rake ;  and  set 
out,  a  woman  in  her  seventy-fourth  year,  laden 
as  few  young  people  would  wish  to  be.  In  the 
station  in  Chicago  she  had  the  misfortune  to 
have  her  purse  and  her  ticket  stolen  from  her, 
but  the  agents  were  kind  enough  to  present  her 

15 


226  MARIA  SANFOED 

with  a  ticket  to  her  destination.  When  they 
reached  Florida  a  man  who  had  formerly  lived 
in  Minneapolis  drove  them  at  night  from  the 
town  where  they  left  the  train  to  the  place 
selected  in  Largo ;  and  as  he  left  Miss  Sanf ord 
with  the  pines  for  her  only  shelter,  he  was  so 
awed  that  he  drove  away  with  tears  in  his  eyes. 

Miss  Sanf  ord  and  her  young  companion  found 
nothing  but  pine  and  wild  palmetto  scrub  on 
the  thirty-five  acres  of  land  which  she  had 
bought.  There  was  no  sign  of  near  neighbors. 
They  had  a  tent  which  they  put  up  and  in  which 
they  lived  for  two  months  with  a  floor  three  feet 
above  the  ground  to  keep  out  snakes  and  in- 
sects. A  heavy  rain  and  windstorm  one  night 
left  them  without  shelter,  and  Miss  Sanford 
went  a  mile  to  the  one-room  shack  of  her  near- 
est neighbor,  where  they  had  to  sit  up  all  night. 
Their  Jersey  cow  wandered  off  during  the 
storm  and  the  boy  hunted  two  days  before  he 
found  it  twelve  miles  off.  Immediately  after- 
ward she  began  to  build  a  one-room  shack  on 
her  own  place,  insuring  for  herself  a  dry  shel- 
ter. A  sleeping  tent  for  the  boy  and  another 
for  storage  made  up  their  home. 

One  of  the  family  of  missionaries  in  whose 
interest  she  had  thought  of  going  to  Florida 
wrote  to  her:  "Your  experiences  are  amusing, 


MARIA  SANFORD  227 

if  the  bites  and  sunburn  were  not  such  stern 
realities.  A  picture  of  you  and  Walter  trying 
to  milk  a  cow  would,  in  common  parlance,  be 
'fetching.'  I  wonder  what  the  cow  thought  of 
it  ?  By  now  you  and  Walter  are  no  doubt  quali- 
fied dairy  maids.  I  think  you  both  are  doing 
splendidly.  Two  acres  cleared  in  less  than  six 
days  is  good  work,  but  surely  King  Sol  is 
shocked  at  your  early  hours. ' ' 

In  addition  to  the  cow  they  had  some  chick- 
ens. These  they  fed  so  liberally  that  the  fowls 
never  gave  them  any  eggs.  As  they  were  five 
miles  from  the  nearest  town,  and  as  none  of  the 
people  anywhere  near  them  had  horse  or  car- 
riage, Miss  Sanford  bought  also  a  wagon  and  a 
driving  horse,  and  carried  supplies  for  her 
neighbors  as  well  as  for  herself  from  market. 
She  knew  so  little  of  horses  that  she  bought  at 
a  high  price  a  very  inferior  animal  which  was 
unable  to  work,  and  almost  unable  to  travel  to 
and  from  town. 

The  celery  plants  she  had  carried  so  care- 
fully to  Florida  did  not  grow  because  condi- 
tions were  not  right  in  that  place  for  celery. 
Miss  Sanford,  nothing  daunted,  set  out  cabbage 
plants  and  tomatoes.  A  neighbor  who  had 
been  a  truck  gardener  in  the  west  helped  them 
at  night  because  it  was  too  hot  to  work  in  the 


228  MARIA  SANFORD 

day  time.  Light  for  their  work  came  from  a 
bonfire  made  of  dried  palmetto  leaves.  Miss 
Sanford  thought  that  as  the  palmetto  scrub 
was  not  very  tall  it  would  be  easy  to  clear  it 
from  the  land,  and  that  she  could  be  of  material 
assistance.  She  began  with  her  own  hands  to 
try  to  dig  it  up ;  but  the  Florida  days  were  too 
hot,  and  the  roots  of  the  palmetto  reached  too 
far  down  for  her  to  make  much  headway  in  the 
day  time.  So  she  rested  a  part  of  the  day  and 
dug  palmetto  scrub  by  moonlight. 

She  did  not  succeed  in  clearing  the  land  very 
rapidly ;  and  after  a  time,  leaving  the  wild  land 
for  stronger  hands,  she  went  up  to  Washington 
to  deliver  some  lectures.  She  also  wished  to 
see  if  a  federal  anti-fight  bill  could  be  intro- 
duced into  Congress.  She  had  been  urged  to 
undertake  this  work  by  friends  in  Minneapolis 
who  believed  that  she  would  make  the  best 
leader  in  a  movement  aimed  primarily  to  pre- 
vent the  sending  of  " fight  films"  around  the 
world,  as  a  syndicate  was  planning  at  that  time 
to  do.  Of  the  results  of  this  effort  she  wrote 
to  a  friend  in  Minneapolis,  "My  errand  here 
has  been,  as  I  feared  it  might  be,  fruitless.  I 
should  not,  however,  have  been  satisfied  not  to 
make  the  attempt.  I  have  no  sympathy  with 
people  who  bewail  wrong  and  say  so  and  so 


MARIA  SANFORD  229 

ought  to  be  done  but  never  lift  a  hand  to  do  it. 
Only  after  we  have  tried  and  failed  have  we  a 
right  to  cease  our  effort,  and  not  always  even 
then.  I  am  not  entirely  sure  that  I  am  through 
with  this  business,  but  for  the  present  there  is 
nothing  I  can  do.  There  is  a  bill  which  has 
been  referred  to  the  committee  on  interstate 
commerce,  the  object  of  which  is  to  stop  prize 
fights.  The  chairman  of  that  committee  told 
me  that  they  could  not  possibly  consider  it  in 
several  weeks,  other  bills  having  precedence  of 
it.  This,  of  course,  means  nothing  will  be  done 
this  season.  I  am  not  sorry  I  came,  though  I 
could  ill  afford  either  the  time  or  the  money; 
but  I  should  have  been  ashamed  of  myself  not 
to  come,  feeling  as  I  did  that  it  was  my  duty. ' ' 

While  she  was  in  Washington  Miss  Sanford 
kept  in  close  touch  by  correspondence  with  what 
was  going  on  on  her  place  at  Largo,  and  wrote 
to  friends  in  Minneapolis  that  she  was  home- 
sick to  get  back,  " because,"  she  said,  "this  is 
the  time  to  plan  for  the  spring  crop,  and  I  am 
anxious  to  be  there  to  get  things  well  started. 
I  have  enjoyed  the  life  on  the  farm  and  the 
freedom  and  quiet  of  that  new  country.  I  am 
not  sure  how  long  it  would  be  attractive  to  me 
but  it  has  not  yet  lost  its  charm." 

When  Miss  Sanford  returned  to  Largo,  how- 


230  MARIA  SANFOKD 

ever,  she  found  that  worms  had  eaten  her  cab- 
bage plants.  The  tomatoes  Avere  in  fine  condi- 
tion but  she  was  unable  to  market  them.  Her 
enthusiasm  cooled  considerably  and  she  said 
to  herself,  "A  woman  who  can  thrill  an  audi- 
ence as  you  can  has  no  business  to  raise  the 
best  cabbages  in  the  wo  rid. "  And  she  started 
forthwith  on  her  return  trip  to  Minneapolis, 
leaving  the  land  to  be  cleared,  and  ten  acres  in 
orange  and  grapefruit  trees  to  be  set  out  and 
cared  for  by  the  man  who  had  helped  her  be- 
fore. She  left  in  Florida  her  live-stock  and  all 
her  implements,  and  closed  the  house.  She 
sold  her  wagon  to  the  man  who  looked  after  her 
place;  but  the  horse,  as  he  wrote  to  her  after 
her  return,  was  too  weak  to  work  or  even  to 
drive.  That  was  therefore  a  complete  loss. 
A  year  later  the  barn  burned. 

Miss  Sanford,  after  her  return,  looked  after 
the  place  for  some  years,  keeping  up  a  constant 
correspondence  with  the  bank  and  with  differ- 
ent people  who  were  hired  to  care  for  the  land. 
One  overseer  did  not  take  the  pains  he  should 
in  cultivating  the  grove,  and  caused  extra  ex- 
pense for  renewing  blighted  trees  and  planting 
others  in  their  places.  Part  of  the  land  had 
to  be  drained.  Then  a  fence  had  to  be  built  to 
keep  out  the  cattle  of  some  people  who  moved 


MAEIA  SANFORD  231 

near.  But  the  land  was  still  so  wet  that  the 
fence  posts  soon  rotted  and  the  cattle  broke  in 
and  destroyed  many  of  the  young  trees.  Miss 
Sanford,  however,  had  too  much  of  the  pioneer 
spirit  to  be  discouraged;  and  kept  on,  writing 
cheerful  letters  to  the  man  who  was  taking  care 
of  her  property,  and  spending  for  a  consider- 
able time,  as  she  estimated,  fifteen  dollars  a 
month  on  an  average  for  the  care  of  the  place. 
The  man  who  was  looking  after  the  land  came 
to  regard  Miss  Sanford  as  the  best  friend  of 
himself  and  his  family.  His  own  venture  was 
not  successful,  and  Miss  Sanford  lent  him 
money.  After  some  years  he  moved  to  the  Pa- 
cific coast.  The  man  who  next  took  the  place 
wrote  that  pine  roots  needed  to  be  dug  up.  She 
had  removed  only  palmetto.  The  fruit  trees 
needed  to  be  set  higher.  Fifty  trees  had  died. 
Miss  Sanford  sent  money ;  but  he  needed  more, 
as  he  wanted  to  clear  more  land.  The  care 
taker  sent  her  an  itemized  monthly  account  of 
work  done  and  money  needed,  but  at  the  end  of 
another  year  Miss  Sanford  was  discouraged 
and  finally  exchanged  both  her  own  land  and 
that  of  her  niece  in  Largo  for  property  in  the 
town  of  Lakeland,  Florida.  It  is  some  satisfac- 


232  MARIA  SANFOBD 

tion  to  know  that  the  missionary  niece,  her  hus- 
band and  several  of  her  children  are  enjoying 
their  home  in  Florida  today. 

As  soon  as  women's  clubs  realized  that  Miss 
Sanf ord  was  free  to  come  as  often  as  they  could 
afford  to  have  her,  she  was  in  request  for  more 
lectures  than  she  could  possibly  give.  A 
woman's  club  of  about  twenty  members  in  the 
northern  part  of  Minnesota  was  so  eager  for 
her  presence  that  they  had  her  on  their  pro- 
gram once  a  month  for  six  months.  In  the  even- 
ings each  time  she  visited  this  city  she  lectured 
under  the  auspices  of  the  club  at  church;  her 
lectures  to  the  club  were  on  literary  topics  and 
the  evening  lectures  on  art  subjects. 

In  March,  1912,  President  Vincent  planned  a 
new  kind  of  University  Extension  to  carry  the 
University  to  the  people.  The  schedule  provided 
for  a  week's  program  in  twenty-four  small  cities 
of  the  state,  with  popular  applied  education  in 
every  department  through  the  medium  of  a  staff 
of  seventy-five  lecturers,  educators,  demonstrat- 
ors and  entertainers.  Miss  Sanford  was  asked 
to  appear  on  Art  and  Literature  Day  twice 
each  day  of  the  week  in  six  towns  which  were 
in  easy  communication  with  each  other.  In  the 
mornings  she  gave  her  popular  talk  on  Liter- 


MARIA  SANFORD  233 

ature  for  Everybody  and  in  the  afternoons  she 
gave  a  reading  from  one  of  her  favorite  poets. 

Two  of  her  favorite  poems  were  sure  to  be 
given  on  these  occasions.  Kipling's  Mother 
o'  Mine  she  recited  with  such  feeling  that  one 
woman  said  to  her,  "I  do  not  see  how  one  who 
has  never  been  a  mother  can  possibly  recite  that 
poem  as  you  do."  Lowell's  My  Love  she  be- 
lieved everyone  should  know.  One  stanza  of 
that  poem  has  been  quoted  again  and  again  as 
applicable  to  her. 

She  doeth  little  kindnesses 

Which  most  leave  undone,  or  despise; 
For  naught  that  sets  one  heart  at  ease, 
And  giveth  happiness  or  peace, 

Is  low  esteemed  in  her  eyes. 

Her  favorite  passage  of  all  Ejiglish  poetry 
was  from  Browning's  Rabbi  Ben  Ezra.  Who 
that  knew  Miss  Sanford  could  fail  to  associate 
her  with  that  poem  on  old  age?  Her  favorite 
lines  were, 

Aa  the  bird  wings  and  sings, 

Let  us  cry, ' '  All  good  things 

Are  ours,  nor  soul  helps  flesh  more,  now, 

Than  flesh  helps  soul." 

In  going  from  place  to  place  her  associates 
remarked  that  she  was  more  active  and  ener- 


234  MARIA  SANFORD 

getic  than  most  of  the  young  people.  She  was 
the  only  person  of  the  entire  company  who  never 
rode  in  a  sleeping  car  on  the  night  journeys. 
Her  efforts  were  so  much  appreciated  that  the 
President  wrote  her  a  personal  letter  for  her 
disinterested  service,  which  was  a  distinct  con- 
tribution to  the  idea  that  he  wished  to  make 
widespread  in  the  state — that  the  University 
was  interested  not  alone  in  the  students  who 
resorted  to  it  but  in  all  the  people  of  the  Com- 
monwealth. 

This  short  period  of  freedom  had  resulted  in 
making  Miss  Sanford  better  known  outside  the 
state  than  was  possible  while  she  was  teach- 
ing. But  perhaps  the  one  occasion  which  made 
her  known  to  the  greatest  number  of  women  all 
over  the  country  was  the  address  she  gave  at 
the  National  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs  at 
San  Francisco  in  1912.  A  former  student  of 
Miss  Sanford 's  suggested  to  the  women  of  the 
Minneapolis  Federation  that  Miss  Sanford 
should  be  asked  to  make  an  address  at  the 
biennial.  The  matter  was  taken  up  with  the 
proper  authorities  and  Miss  Sanford  received 
an  invitation  to  make  an  address.  She  had  at 
that  time  been  made  an  honorary  member  of 
the  State  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs,  the 
first  and  only  honorary  member.  It  was  found 


MARIA  SANFORD  235 

that  she  belonged  to  every  club  in  the  state,  and 
the  women  of  the  state  by  contributing  twenty- 
five  cents  apiece  raised  money  to  defray  all  her 
expenses.  Twenty  members  of  the  Woman's 
Club  of  Minneapolis  presented  the  invitation, 
written  as  follows : 

"You  must  guess  that  twenty  women  de- 
scending upon  you  this  bitter  cold  day — so  soon 
after  your  return  from  a  fatiguing  trip — must 
have  something  very  much  at  heart. 

"You  have  doubtless  heard  that  there  is  to 
be  in  San  Francisco  this  summer  the  most  nota- 
ble gathering  of  American  Womanhood,  called 
together  by  the  National  Federation  of  Wom- 
en's Clubs.  We  feel  that  you,  representing  the 
most  distinguished  women  of  our  city,  should 
be  among  them,  and  we,  representing  the  club 
women  of  our  city,  have  come  to  ask  you  to 
honor  us  by  going  as  our  guest  to  San  Fran- 
cisco. We  say  guest  and  not  representative, 
feeling  that  thus  you  will  be  relieved  of  the 
burdens  of  representation,  and  yet  open  to  all 
the  social  gifts  and  courtesies  of  the  Federa- 
tion. 

"We  might  mention  many  reasons  for  our 
special  hope  that  you  will  accept  our  request 
with  favor,  but  we  will  mention  but  two.  A  few 
days  ago  the  wife  of  the  president  of  one  of  our 


236  MARIA  SANFORD 

largest  banks  said,  'There  is  no  name  in  the 
city  that  commands  more  honor  and  respect 
from  my  husband  than  the  name  of  Maria  San- 
ford,  because  at  great  personal  sacrifice  she 
stood  by  a  debt  of  honor  which  most  men  would 
have  felt  quite  justified  in  repudiating. ' 

"For  this  reason,  and  because  in  a  long  pub- 
lic and  private  life  you  have  stood  every  test, 
and  been  true  to  the  highest  ideals  of  woman- 
hood, we  want  you  to  do  us  this  honor.  The 
wings  'wherewith  you  are  to  fly  withal'  have 
been  provided,  and  it  only  remains  for  us  to 
take  to  our  waiting  clubs  your  favorable  answer, 
that  the  final  details  may  be  completed. 

"We  have  the  honor  to  wait,  many  of  us 
your  former  pupils,  all  of  us  your  loving 
friends,  for  the  answer  we  hope  to  carry  with 
us." 

One  club  presented  her  with  a  beautiful  gray 
silk  dress  for  festive  occasions  and  another 
gave  a  rose  point  lace  collar  to  go  with  the  silk. 
Miss  Sanford's  devoted  niece  made  her  a  beau- 
tiful dress  of  this  material.  She  made  a  tri- 
umphal journey  from  Minneapolis  to  San  Fran- 
cisco. Former  students  and  friends  in  cities 
and  towns  in  every  state  through  which  she 
would  pass  were  notified  by  one  of  the  club  of 
the  date  of  her  coming  and  she  was  urged  to 


MARIA  SANFORD  237 

lecture  and  to  be  the  guest  of  students.  Her 
heart  was  warmed  and  her  pocket-book  filled 
as  a  result  of  these  chances  to  lecture.  She  still 
had  need  of  all  she  could  earn,  because  she  still 
owed  fifteen  thousand  dollars. 

The  greatest  event  of  the  trip  was  the  day  of 
her  address  in  San  Francisco.  She  spoke  on 
a  subject  which  had  been  near  her  heart  for 
many  years,  and  on  which  she  had  spoken  many 
times,  The  Value  of  Moral  Power  in  the  School- 
room. As  the  slight  old  lady  rose  before  that 
great  audience  she  was  greeted  by  the  silent 
tribute  of  the  Chautauqua  salute.  A  San  Fran- 
cisco reporter,  in  referring  to  this  address, 
wrote:  "Seventy-five  and  active;  seventy-five 
with  a  voice  that  has  the  power  and  resonance 
that  moves  thousands  of  young  women  to  envy, 
seventy-five  and  able  to  move  with  enthusiastic 
admiration  and  devotion  the  immense  audience 
of  club  women  that  packed  the  auditorium  this 
morning ;  such  is  the  unique  distinction  of  Pro- 
fessor Maria  Sanf  ord  of  the  University  of  Min- 
nesota." A  reporter  for  another  paper  said 
she  made  the  most  profound  impression  of  any 
speaker  at  the  biennial.  One  of  her  best  known 
sentiments  was  expressed  in  this  speech:  "At 
seventy-five  my  message  to  the  world  is :  Let 
every  human  being  so  bear  himself  that  the 


238  MARIA  SANFOKD 

place  where  he  stands  is  sacred  ground.  And 
I  charge  the  old  to  teach  the  young  the  value  of 
education,  not  as  a  means  to  wealth,  but  as  a 
means  to  life."  Another,  equally  well  known, 
was  repeated  here : 

"We  would  urge  those  who  select  either  pri- 
mary teachers  or  college  professors  to  look  not 
to  preparation  only,  but  to  power ;  to  remember 
that  learning,  foreign  university  degrees,  skill 
in  research,  are  not  sufficient  evidence  of  a 
teacher's  fitness  unless  these  are  accompanied 
by  a  spirit  and  purpose  which  ennobles  the 
life." 

Miss  Sanford  enjoyed  every  minute  of  her 
trip.  She  appeared  at  a  special  luncheon  ar- 
ranged for  her  by  club  women  who  were  en- 
thusiastic about  her  address.  Yet  she  refused 
an  invitation  to  one  great  function,  and  went 
instead  to  speak  to  the  women  prisoners  at  San 
Quentin.  When  asked  about  it  afterward  she 
said,  "I  tried  to  make  it  the  best  talk  I  had 
ever  given." 

It  was  while  she  was  at  this  biennial  that  Miss 
Sanford  saw  the  success  with  which  the  Cali- 
fornia women  had  used  the  rights  of  suffrage 
and  came  out  openly  herself  as  a  suffragist. 
From  that  time  she  lectured  frequently  for  the 
cause  and  never  hesitated  to  tell  whv  she  had 


MARIA  SANFOBD  239 

% 

changed  her  point  of  view.  Before  her  return 
to  her  home  she  spoke  to  the  Woman's  Club  of 
Los  Angeles.  She  told  them  that  the  women 
of  the  states  without  suffrage  were  watching 
California.  She  urged  them  not  to  form  a 
woman's  party,  nor  support  a  woman  candidate 
just  because  she  was  a  woman,  but  to  vote  for 
the  highest  principles.  She  reminded  them 
that  one  unanswerable  argument  for  equal  suf- 
frage would  be  the  voting  woman's  use  of  the 
ballot  in  the  interest  of  social  purity  and  home 
protection.  She  charged  them  to  keep  before 
them  the  better  guardianship  of  home  and 
family. 

On  her  return  home  she  was  at  once  asked  to 
accept  a  place  on  the  legislative  committee  of 
the  Minnesota  Woman  Suffrage  Association, 
and  asked  to  give  what  free  time  she  had  from 
her  lecture  engagements  outside  the  state,  in 
which  to  make  her  presence  felt  in  her  home 
state. 

Some  months  later  when  she  spoke  on  the 
same  subject  in  Poughkeepsie,  New  York,  she 
entitled  her  speech  When  the  Sun  Rises  in 
the  West.  She  remarked  that  she  always  had 
known  some  women  were  as  able  as  some  men, 
but  had  thought  the  ignorant  vote  would  be  bad, 
and  also  that  women  would  lose  their  delicacy. 


240  MARIA  SANFORD 

But  her  observation  in  California  had  taught 
her  better.  A  year  previously  she  had  deliv- 
ered a  lecture  against  suffrage.  She  had  never 
been  in  sympathy  with  the  plea  that  suffrage 
was  a  right;  and  when  she  joined  the  ranks  of 
the  suffragists  she  always  emphasized  her  be- 
lief that  it  was  an  opportunity  for  service.  She 
had  come  to  see  that  women  were  called  upon 
for  public  service ;  that  as  the  last  century  was 
one  of  invention,  of  material  progress,  this  is 
one  of  social  advancement;  that  imbecility,  in- 
sanity, drunkenness,  and  poverty  were  the  re- 
*sult  of  conditions  which  might  be  improved; 
and  that  women  were  seeking  a  way  to  help 
their  fellowmen  by  protection  of  childhood 
against  severe  labor  conditions,  by  securing  re- 
lief for  the  industrially  oppressed,  and  by  the 
suppression  of  the  social  evil.  In  her  attempt 
at  "general  helping"  she  had  a  hand  in  all 
these  efforts. 

In  the  winter  following  the  biennial  at  San 
Francisco  the  clubs  belonging  to  the  Minnesota 
State  Federation  in  twelve  of  the  larger  cities 
of  the  state  engaged  Miss  Sanford  for  a  series 
of  lectures,  many  of  these  as  a  direct  result  of 
the  enthusiasm  aroused  by  her  address  at  San 
Francisco,  although  most  of  the  clubs  of  the 
state  had  for  many  vears  been  familiar  with 


MABIA  SANFORD  241 

Miss  Sanford's  work  as  a  lecturer.  That  win- 
ter, shortly  before  her  seventy-sixth  birthday, 
Professor  Sanford  made  eighteen  addresses  in 
ten  days,  and  on  her  birthday  she  lectured 
twice.  On  that  occasion  she  remarked  con- 
cerning her  health,  "I  was  never  better  in  my 
life.  I  know  as  time  goes  on  that  I  have  not 
long  to  work,  and  I  want  to  be  busy  during  the 
rest  of  my  days.  There  is  so  much  to  be  done 
in  the  world  and  such  a  loud  call  for  those  who 
by  insight,  by  earnestness  and  by  tact  are  fitted 
to  do  it  well ;  there  is  so  much  to  be  learned,  so 
much  to  be  discovered  that  will  lift  up  and  bless 
the  world,  that  no  one  who  has  a  skillful  hand 
and  a  trained  eye  can  afford  to  hold  back  from 
help."  At  an  earlier  time,  in  referring  to  her 
health,  she  said  that  long  before  Mrs.  Eddy  had 
been  heard  of  she  had  laid  down  for  herself 
the  general  principle  that  she  must  never  plan 
or  think  about  being  in  anything  but  good 
health.  Her  experience  had  convinced  her  that 
the  habit  of  chronic  illness  unfitted  many  who 
might  do  better  if  they  would  cultivate  a  differ- 
ent attitude  of  mind. 

One  of  Miss  Sanford's  favorite  lectures,  given 
many  times,  was  entitled  How  to  Make  Home 
Happy.  This  lecture  was  full  of  homely  wisdom, 
of  anecdotes  of  her  early  years,  and  was  eagerly 

16 


242  MARIA  SANFORD 

listened  to  on  all  occasions.  She  believed  that 
poor  homes  are  the  happiest,  that  thoughtful- 
ness  for  others,  self-denial  and  willingness  to 
give  are  found  oftenest  in  homes  of  poverty. 
"In  ourselves,"  she  said,  "we  find  the  wealth 
that  makes  home.  Ambition,  contentment,  thrift, 
health  and  religion  are  necessary  to  a  happy 
home.  Thrift  is  the  most  important  and  the 
most  often  neglected." 

In  addition  to  the  lectures  given  in  Minne- 
sota Miss  Sanford  was  in  request  in  California 
and  all  through  the  western  states.  One  lec- 
ture given  to  high  school  students  entitled  Pock- 
ets of  Gold  made  such  an  impression  upon  the 
boys  and  girls  that  they  gave  her  a  pin  made 
from  a  nugget  of  gold  found  in  the  county.  The 
students,  teachers  and  principals  of  the  high 
school  presented  her  with  an  engraved  scroll  in 
memory  of  their  pleasure  and  the  value  they  had 
received  from  her  lecture. 

On  her  return  journey  she  spoke  in  Port- 
land, Oregon,  before  a  congress  of  mothers  on 
a  subject  which  had  recently  become  of  public 
interest,  that  of  sex  hygiene  for  girls.  This 
was  a  new  departure  for  Miss  Sanford,  but  with 
her  usual  sanity,  courage  and  sincerity,  she  told 
the  mothers  that  she  believed  this  subject 
should  be  taught,  but  she  did  not  believe  in 


MARIA  SANFORD  243 

having  it  taught  in  school.  She  was  of  the 
opinion  that  mothers  should  give  their  girls 
the  necessary  instruction,  and  that  very  early. 
On  her  return  to  Minnesota  that  summer  Miss 
Sanford  spoke  again  on  sex  hygiene,  and  one 
friend  in  writing  to  her  said,  "I  have  heard 
nothing  but  favorable  comment  on  your  sex 
talk.  One  woman  who,  I  know,  has  evaded  her 
duty  and  even  been  untruthful  to  her  three 
children,  was  thoroughly  impressed.  I  was 
eager  to  hear  her  opinion  on  the  talk.  She  is 
the  aristocratic,  unsympathetic  type,  and  I  was 
fearful  that  even  you  could  not  convince  her; 
but  you  did." 

She  was  in  demand  for  high  school  com- 
mencement addresses  in  Minnesota.  She  spoke 
before  the  Women's  Press  Club  in  New  York 
City.  She  lectured  for  the  endowment  fund  of 
the  General  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs. 
Everywhere  her  humor  was  remarked  with 
keen  appreciation.  Even  on  the  subject  of  cre- 
mation, which  she  advocated  for  many  years, 
she  had  a  favorite  humorous  story.  Believing 
that  cremation  was  the  only  hygienic  method  in 
large  cities  of  disposing  of  the  dead,  she  ex- 
pressed her  views  as  she  did  on  other  unpop- 
ular subjects,  whenever  she  found  an  occasion. 
But  she  never  made  the  topic  seem  gruesome, 


244  MARIA  SANFOED 

and  often  repeated  the  remark  made  by  an  un- 
married woman  to  a  widow  whose  third  hus- 
band had  recently  been  cremated:  "I  never 
had  a  husband,  and  you  have  had  husbands  to 
burn." 

On  the  subject  of  Our  Duty  to  the  Degraded 
Classes  she  had  some  original  and  vigorously 
expressed  opinions.  She  believed  that  habitual 
paupers  as  well  as  criminals  are  defectives 
whom  society  may  deprive  of  their  freedom  as 
it  does  the  insane.  Pauperism  is  not,  as  we 
think,  a  necessary  evil,  but  a  foul  disease.  Even 
the  worthy  poor  should  not  receive  alms,  but 
should  work  or  in  some  way  give  an  equivalent 
for  what  they  receive.  Pauperism  should  not 
be  tampered  with,  but  stamped  out.  It  is  not 
an  accident,  but  a  disease  which  can  be  con- 
trolled and  prevented. 

For  many  of  her  lectures  at  this  period,  as 
had  been  the  case  for  many  years,  she  received 
no  money.  The  year  1914,  five  years  after  her 
retirement,  was  financially  the  most  profitable ; 
in  this  year  she  received  more  than  two  thou- 
sand dollars  from  her  public  speaking. 

In  the  summer  of  1915  Miss  Sanford  made  an 
extended  western  trip,  lecturing  in  northern 
Montana,  and  for  the  first  time  longing  for 
home  she  wrote  to  her  niece  in  Minneapolis, 


MARIA  SANFORD  245 

"How  glad  I  am  that  I  am  engaged  in  Minne- 
apolis for  September.  It  will  be  so  delightful 
to  be  at  home,  and  so  good  to  be  earning  the 
money  I  need."  Her  gratitude  to  her  niece 
found  expression  when  she  said,  "I  am  indeed 
happy  that  you  enjoy  our  home,  and  more 
thankful  than  I  can  tell  that  I  have  you  to  make 
it  home  for  me.  I  hope  we  may  have  some  de- 
lightful years  together  yet."  On  this  trip  she 
wrote  almost  daily  to  her  niece,  and  in  every 
letter  repeated  her  desire  to  be  at  home.  In 
one  letter  she  began  by  saying,  "It  is  5:30  in 
the  morning  and  I  am  all  ready  for  the  day's 
work.  Of  course  I  have  not  had  breakfast  yet, 
but  I  have  had  my  bath  in  this  delicious,  soft, 
clear  water.  All  the  work  I  have  to  do  is  done, 
and  with  warm  clothing  on  I  am  sitting  outside 
my  cabin  door  writing.  It  is  glorious  sitting 
here  and  seeing  the  sunlight  creep  down  on  the 
mountains  and  to  feel  this  life-giving  air.  I  am 
sure  these  weeks  are  being  a  great  benefit  to 
me.  I  feel  now  so  well  and  sound  and  so  thank- 
ful for  this  vigor.  I  am  alone  in  my  cabin  now 
and  I  enjoy  it  hugely.  You  had  better  send  me 
more  papers  here.  We  get  no  news  at  all,  and 
I  leave  the  papers  when  I  have  read  them  in 
the  schoolroom  where  the  girls  can  see  them." 
A  snap  shot  of  her  here  standing  before  her 


246  MARIA  SANFORD 

log  cabin  shows  the  vitality  of  a  woman  half 
her  age.  Another  surprising  photograph  shows 
her  in  a  mountain  clearing  seated  astride  a 
pony.  She  has  on  a  cowboy  hat,  and  has  a  ban- 
danna handkerchief  knotted  around  her  neck. 
Her  attitude  indicates  that  she  expects  to  start 
at  once  on  a  morning  journey.  Alert  and  eager, 
she  seems  keenly  pleased  at  the  prospect.  She 
had  left  the  railroad  and  journeyed  over  the 
roughest  of  stage  roads  thirty-five  miles  into 
the  wilderness  to  lecture  to  a  camp  of  normal 
school  students.  For  two  weeks  she  spoke  to 
them  three  times  a  day.  Just  at  twilight  each 
evening  a  big  bon-fire  was  started,  and  the 
whole  community  gathered  around  it  while  Pro- 
fessor Sanford  repeated  some  of  her  favorite 
poems. 

For  a  woman  nearing  eighty  years  of  age  the 
strenuous  travelling  she  describes  in  her  let- 
ters is  marvelous:  "It  was  a  queer  jaunt  up 
here  from  Glendive.  I  left  there  at  seven  in 
the  morning  and  got  here  after  six  at  night.  I 
rode  a  little  way,  then  changed  cars,  or  rather 
waited  at  the  station  to  change,  then  went  on  a 
little  ways  further  and  changed  again;  and  so 
on  four  times.**  "Within  a  week  Miss  Sanford 
was  writing  from  another  town  in  Montana: 
"My  work  here  is  somewhat  strenuous  but  very 


MARIA  SANFORD  247 

satisfactory.  Everybody  is  so  much  pleased! 
The  people  of  the  town  crowd  in  every  after- 
noon to  hear.  This  evening  I  am  to  give  a 
lecture  for  them.  Sunday  I  am  to  take  part  of 
the  service ,  and  Tuesday  afternoon  at  four 

0  'clock  I  am  to  speak  to  the  mothers.    They  pay 
me  for  this  evening  but  not  for  Tuesday.    They 
said  they  should  be  so  glad  to  have  the  talk  to 
the  mothers,  it  was  so  much  needed.    So  I  told 
them  I  would  give  them  the  talk  Tuesday  after- 
noon free." 

On  leaving  this  town  Miss  Sanford  wrote  to 
her  niece:  "I  may  go  to  Lewistown.  To  go 
there  I  change  at  Bainville,  then  change  again 
at  Havre  at  2:00  A.  M.,  leave  Havre  at  4:40 
A.  M.,  and  reach  Lewistown  at  7:30  P.  M.  I 
do  not  earn  much  by  going  there,  but  I  occupy 
vacant  days  and  get  my  fare,  which  counts,  and 

1  had  rather  be  at  work  than  idle. ' '    Again  her 
longing  to  be  at  home  is  expressed  a  few  days 
later  in  a  letter  to  the  same  niece:    "Another 
Monday  morning,  and  I  am  beginning  the  last 
full  week  before  I  go  home.    I  am  wondering 
how  it  would  seem  to  me  if  I  could  stay  at  home 
and  not  be  going  away  all  the  time.    I  feel  sure 
I  should  enjoy  it  if  I  were  busy  and  you  were 
there.    ...    I  am  so  thankful  for  my  health 
and  strength.    I  shall  need  it  all  when  I  come 


248  MARIA  SANFORD 

to  the  Minneapolis  campaign.  That  will  be 
hard,  I  know,  but  I  am  more  than  glad  to  be  in 
it." 

As  the  month  of  August  drew  to  a  close  Miss 
Sanford's  longing  increased.  From  Havre  she 
wrote,  "I  am  in  a  hurry  to  see  you.  It  is  only 
one  week  from  tonight  that  I  shall  be  at  home, 
I  hope  ...  I  am  beginning  to  feel  a  lit- 
tle easier  about  my  affairs.  I  have  still  a  lot 
to  pay,  but  it  is  good  to  be  home,  and  that  work 
in  Minneapolis  will  help.  It  looks  now  as  if  by 
next  May  I  should  be  where  I  need  not  worry. 
I  will  hope  for  freedom — not  quite  from  debt, 
but  from  anxiety."  A  day  or  two  later  she 
writes  again  to  her  niece,  "I  had  another  de- 
lightful surprise  yesterday  in  getting  your  let- 
ter. I  had  not  expected  to  get  any  letters  here 
and  it  seemed  such  a  long  time  not  to  hear  from 
you,  but  these  two  letters  make  it  short.  Soon 
now  I  shall  be  at  home  ...  I  have  to  go 
the  same  round  about  way  I  came.  It  doesn't 
matter.  I  am  feeling  so  well  and  strong  I  shall 
not  mind  the  waits.  The  only  one  I  really  dread 
is  at  Glendive.  I  get  there  at  4:40  P.  M.  and 
stay  until  2 :00  A.  M.,  and  the  station  is  swarm- 
ing with  flies.  When  I  came  on  I  went  outdoors 
and  lay  on  a  truck.  It  was  a  warm  night. ' ' 

After  the  Minneapolis  campaign  Miss  San- 


MARIA  SANFORD  249 

ford  started  on  an  eastern  trip,  stopping  in 
Chicago,  then  going  on  to  New  York  and  later 
to  Virginia.  Her  longing  to  be  at  home  grew. 
She  still  wrote  to  her  niece  almost  daily  and 
looked  eagerly  for  letters  from  home.  From 
Chicago  she  wrote,  *  *  I  am  certainly  a  great  deal 
better  than  I  was  a  year  ago,  for  I  gave  three 
addresses  on  Thursday  and  then  came  down 
here  yesterday,  and  I  do  not  feel  tired  at  all. 
.  .  .  Work  is  about  the  best  thing  we  get  in 
this  world  except  such  loving  friends  as  you  are 
to  me. ' ' 

While  she  was  in  Chicago  at  this  time  she  re- 
ceived a  letter  from  the  Minneapolis  Journal 
asking  her  to  go  to  Gary,  Indiana,  to  visit  the 
famous  Gary  schools.  She  wrote  two  letters 
for  the  Journal  about  this  visit  and  advised  the 
Minneapolis  educators  not  to  hurry  to  intro- 
duce the  Gary  system  in  Minneapolis.  Al- 
though she  found  many  of  the  novel  features 
of  the  school  good  in  theory,  she  did  not  feel 
that  they  always  worked  out  satisfactorily. 
One  of  the  greatest  objections  to  the  system,  she 
felt,  was  the  overworking  of  the  teachers. 
Miss  Sanford  made  such  an  impression  on  the 
school  children  of  Gary  that  one  small  child 
wrote  of  her:  "The  little  old-fashioned  lady 
appeared  quite  suddenly  in  the  big  new-fash- 


250  MAEIA  SANFOBD 

ioned  school.  Her  quick  light  step  was  that  of 
a  girl.  Her  snow  white  hair,  combed  straight 
back  from  her  forehead  and  coiled  in  a  knot  at 
the  nape  of  her  neck,  was  just  the  way  our 
grandmothers  do.  Her  black  silk  was  just  the 
kind  we  would  want  her  to  wear  and  just  the 
kind  our  grandmothers  wear  today.  As  she 
stepped  on  the  platform  a  breathless  hush  fell 
on  the  audience.  Everyone  wanted  to  hear  the 
message  that  the  little  old-fashioned  lady  had 
to  bring  to  us.  When  she  spoke  a  look  of  sur- 
prise came  into  the  faces  of  those  in  the  audi- 
ence. Her  voice  was  as  clear  as  a  bell.  It  rang 
through  the  room,  strong  and  clear.  Everyone 
was  quiet  from  the  fourth  grade  to  the  twelfth. 
She  recited  geometry  propositions  which  she 
had  studied  sixty  years  ago.  She  told  us — 0, 
so  many  things!  Miss  Sanford's  talk  is  one 
that  will  be  long  remembered.  The  words  of 
the  little  old-fashioned  lady  will  echo  and  re- 
echo through  the  halls  of  the  big  new-fashioned 
school." 

Miss  Sanford  wrote  to  her  niece  about  her 
visit :  "I  had  a  very  nice  time  at  Gary  but  it 
was  pretty  hard  work,  and  I  am  feeling  a  little 
tired.  They  remembered  me  from  last  year 
and  treated  me  royally.  Yesterday  I  spoke 
five  times,  including  a  story  I  told  to  a  class  of 


MAKIA  SANFORD  251 

children."  After  her  visit  to  Gary  Miss  San- 
ford  wrote  to  her  niece,  "You  can't  tell  how  I 
look  forward  to  next  spring  when  what  I  earn 
will  pull  me  out  of  trouble.  I  shall  have  to  be 
careful  and  save  right  on,  but  I  shall  not  have 
to  worry  as  to  how  I  am  to  meet  necessary  pay- 
ments nor  to  worry  as  to  what  would  be  done 
if  I  should  die." 

As  she  went  on  further  east  she  continued 
to  ride  in  day  coaches  and  to  have  to  change  in 
the  middle  of  the  night.  Although  she  was  a 
pioneer  woman  and  in  many  respects  ahead  of 
her  time,  in  other  ways  she  was  a  Puritan  of 
the  Puritans.  She  told  some  friends  that  it 
never  seemed  quite  nice  to  her  to  go  into  a 
sleeper.  She  could  curl  up  comfortably  on  the 
seat  of  a  day  coach  and  sleep  with  her  clothes 
on.  She  didn't  like  to  undress  in  a  railway 
train.  From  somewhere  in  New  York  Miss 
Sanford  wrote  to  her  niece,  "I  have  had  a  very 
comfortable  night.  I  had  to  change  in  Buffalo 
and  wait  from  2:30  to  4:30  A.  M.  That  was 
the  only  unpleasant  thing,  but  I  stretched  out 
in  the  station  and  slept  for  a  while.  I  am  all 
right  now." 

After  going  south  as  far  as  Virginia  she  re- 
turned to  her  native  state  to  rest  a  few  days 
before  filling  lecture  engagements  on  her  re- 


252  MARIA  SANFORD 

turn  journey.  On  New  Year's  Day  she  was  in 
Yalesville,  Connecticut,  staying  with  a  cousin, 
and  for  the  first  time  in  many  years  relaxing 
somewhat  and  enjoying  a  pleasant  visit.  She 
left  the  house  in  the  afternoon  one  day  to  go  to 
the  post  office.  There  had  been  an  ice  storm 
and  she  had  the  misfortune  to  fall  on  the  ice, 
dislocating  her  shoulder  and  injuring  herself 
so  severely  that  with  difficulty  she  reached  a 
doctor's  office.  An  examination  showed  that 
there  were  no  broken  bones,  but  she  had  to  be 
carried  back  to  the  house.  The  cousin  urged 
her  to  go  to  bed,  but  Miss  Sanf  ord  insisted  that 
she  must  take  the  train  that  night  for  Troy, 
New  York ;  and  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  she  was 
unable  to  stand  she  insisted  on  travelling. 

She  was  put  aboard  the  train,  and  when  she 
reached  Troy,  still  unable  to  walk,  she  was 
wheeled  to  the  platform  at  the  hall  where  she 
was  to  lecture.  From  there  she  went  on  to 
three  other  cities  in  New  York,  still  unable  to 
walk,  and  in  this  way  she  filled  all  her  lecture 
engagements  between  New  York  and  Minne- 
apolis. When  she  reached  home  she  was  obliged 
to  go  to  bed  and  unable  to  raise  her  hand  to 
her  mouth,  yet  in  less  than  a  week  she  was  on 
her  way  to  keep  lecture  engagements  in  Cali- 
fornia. Her  niece  packed  her  trunk,  friends 


MARIA  SANFOBD  253 

took  her  to  the  train.  No  one  knows  how  she 
was  cared  for  on  the  road,  but  she  reached  her 
journey's  end  in  California  much  better  than 
when  she  left  Minneapolis  and  never  failed  in 
a  single  engagement. 

Her  niece,  who  was  in  doubt  about  the  wis- 
dom of  such  a  long  journey  was  re-assured  by 
the  letter  her  aunt  wrote  at  her  first  stopping 
place:  "I  reached  here  yesterday  at  3:00  A. 
M.  There  had  been  landslides,  which  blocked 
the  trains.  We  had  to  get  out  and  walk  about 
two  long  blocks  through  slush  and  mud,  and 
once  a  trestle  bridge  on  the  ties.  The  men  in 
charge  were  very  kind  and  did  all  they  could 
for  us.  They  took  charge  of  the  valise,  and 
they  put  me  in  charge  of  two  Italians  who  led 
me,  one  on  one  side  and  the  other  on  the  other. 
I  got  along  very  well  with  their  help  so  far  as 
my  lameness  was  concerned,  but  you  should 
have  seen  my  dress.  The  mud  on  the  right  side 
was  up  at  least  four  inches  and  spattered  up  a 
foot  and  a  half  all  around.  My  cloak  was  held 
up  by  the  men's  arms  and  so  escaped.  My 
shoes  were  all  mud  to  the  very  top,  but  we  got 
through  and  were  thankful  we  were  not  in  the 
river  that  was  raging  by  our  side.  My  trunk 
did  not  come  until  this  morning.  When  I  got 
to  the  hotel  I  had  a  warm  room  with  plenty  of 


254  MAEIA  SANFOKD 

hot  water.  I  just  put  the  bottom  of  my  dress 
into  the  bowl  and  washed  it  through  several 
waters  and  hung  it  on  the  radiator.  Then  I 
took  a  wash  cloth  and  washed  my  shoes  and  my 
rubbers  and  set  them  up  to  dry.  It  was  four 
o'clock  when  I  got  them  cleaned  and  I  went  to 
bed  happy.  I  did  so  good  a  job  of  cleaning  my 
clothes  that  by  some  more  sponging  I  was 
decent  for  my  lectures  in  the  afternoon  and 
evening. ' ' 

A  week  later,  "I  have  given  eleven  lectures 
at  Eureka  and  five  at  Arcata.  Oh,  if  they  only 
fill  my  time  so  that  I  can  get  this  load  of  debt 
off  I  shall  be  happy  as  a  bird!  I  count  every 
day  how  much  I  have  earned  .  .  .  Oh,  how 
glad  I  shall  be  to  get  home !  But  I  want  to  get 
the  work  here  and  the  money,  and  they  all  say 
I  do  them  so  much  good.  I  have  been  delight- 
fully entertained,  but  I  want  to  see  you  and  be 
at  home." 

Three  days  later  from  another  town  in  Cali- 
fornia came  the  following:  "Yesterday  morn- 
ing before  I  came  here  I  was  feeling  so  home- 
sick I  could  have  cried.  I  had  been  comfort- 
able enough  but  I  was  disappointed  about  one 
town  not  taking  a  full  course  of  my  lectures, 
and  I  did  not  know  whether  any  of  the  towns 
would  do  so,  and  I  felt  like  giving  up  and  com- 


MAKIA  SANFOED  255 

ing  home.  But  here  the  people  are  very  en- 
thusiastic, and  with  these  kind  friends  around 
me  things  look  bright  again." 

In  spite  of  the  strenuous  travelling  Miss  San- 
ford  gave  lectures  which  were  not  required. 
From  one  town  she  wrote  in  February,  "I  have 
arranged  to  speak  twice  tomorrow  and  to  ad- 
dress the  high  school  Monday.  Of  course  this 
isn't  my  business.  All  I  am  strictly  required 
to  do  is  to  give  the  lectures  when  they  have 
planned  for  them,  but  if  I  can  help  I  am  glad, 
and  then  too  I  do  some  good  by  speaking  .  .  . 
They  thought  that  they  could  not  possibly  pay 
for  a  course  this  year,  but  I  preached  twice  on 
Sunday  and  spoke  in  the  schools  three  times 
yesterday,  and  they  are  so  much  pleased  they 
are  going  to  work  hard  to  get  a  course.  It  is 
very  pleasant  to  feel  that  people  always  like 
my  work. 

"When  I  was  dressed  this  morning  about 
seven  o'clock  I  felt  the  old  impulse  I  used  to 
feel  to  take  a  real  run  before  breakfast  in  the 
open  air.  The  rain  had  not  begun  and  I  had 
a  nice  walk.  It  is  a  good  while  since  I  have 
felt  like  doing  this  .  .  .  Your  good  care 
while  I  was  home  helped  to  bring  me  out  right. 
Nobody  knows  how  thankful  I  am  that  I  have 
you  to  care  for  me  when  T  need  it." 


256  MARIA  SANFORD 

A  month  later  from  San  Francisco  Miss  San- 
ford  wrote  to  her  niece,  "I  am  trying  hard  to 
pay  up  my  debts.  I  have  been  counting  up, 
and  if  I  do  not  have  anything  new  to  meet,  I 
ought  to  have  all  but  the  mortgage  on  our  house 
and  my  other  house  paid  up  by  next  January. 
I  do  want  very  much  to  pay  that  off." 

Her  thought  for  others  when  she  was  sac- 
rificing herself  was  as  generous  as  when  she 
was  young  and  strong.  One  unusual  bit  of 
thoughtf ulness  was  shown  in  the  following :  "I 
don't  like  to  be  at  a  hotel  where  servants  ex- 
pect tips  unless  money  is  provided  for  that; 
and  I  cannot  afford  to  give  it  myself.  I  rather 
deny  myself  a  meal  than  go  where  waiters  ex- 
pect to  be  paid  and  give  them  nothing.  I  have 
done  so  many  a  time." 

About  the  fair  in  San  Francisco  she  wrote: 
"I  intend  to  go  to  the  fair.  I  grudge  the  dollar 
it  will  cost,  but  I  think  it  hardly  best  to  come 
home  without  having  seen  it  at  all." 

Miss  Sanford's  anxiety  about  her  independ- 
ence was  voiced  in  a  letter  to  her  niece  later  in 
the  same  year:  "It  seems  to  me  dreadful  to 
be  old  and  not  have  assured  means  of  support. 
I  rather  work  and  pinch  all  my  life  if  only  I 
could  know  I  was  provided  for.  It  was  this 
feeling  which  made  me  so  troubled  when  I 


MARIA  SANFORD  257 

thought  the  Carnegie  pension  might  not  be 
paid.  ...  If  one  only  has  a  small  sum, 
but  it  is  sure  and  lasts  as  long  as  one  lives,  it 
is  protection  against  that  dreadful  thing,  be- 
ing dependent.  Saving  and  scrimping  are  not 
agreeable  but  they  are  heaven  compared  to 
that." 

Miss  Sanford's  two  seasons  of  lectures  in 
California  in  1915  and  1916  were  given  in  the 
extension  department  of  the  University  of  Cal- 
ifornia. The  first  season  she  gave  single  lectures 
from  Berkeley  to  Los  Angeles,  travelling  at 
night  to  keep  her  appointments.  The  next  sea- 
son the  manager,  in  order  to  conserve  Miss  San- 
ford 's  strength,  arranged  to  have  her  lecture 
a  week  in  a  place.  It  required  some  persua- 
sion to  get  the  people  to  agree  to  have  one  lec- 
turer for  so  long  a  period.  The  manager  said 
that  in  eight  years  of  extension  work  there  had 
never  been  another  speaker  who  could  be  de- 
pended on  to  arouse  keen  interest  and  always 
give  something  worth  while.  The  work  in  one 
place  shows  how  she  appealed  to  the  interests 
of  all  classes.  In  Santa  Cruz  she  lectured  to 
the  high  school  students  on  Shakespeare,  and 
to  the  teachers  on  English ;  at  the  men 's  lunch- 
eons she  spoke  on  patriotic  subjects;  in  the 
afternoons  she  addressed  the  parents'  and 

17 


258  MARIA  SANFORD 

teachers'  associations;  Sundays  she  preached 
in  the  churches.  She  left  the  town  stimulated 
and  revived,  a  wonderful  achievement. 

She  was  straining  every  nerve  at  this  time 
to  get  her  debts  paid  by  the  middle  of  the  year. 
She  succeeded  in  her  endeavor  so  well  that  on 
June  8, 1916,  she  made  a  memorandum :  *  *  This 
seems  my  day  of  emancipation,  the  beginning  of 
life — the  life  I  have  always  longed  to  live,  but 
I  have  been  forced  to  work  for  a  living.  Yes- 
terday I  went  over  my  accounts,  and  while  I 
still  owe  about  four  thousand  dollars,  it  is  all, 

except  my  note  to  Mrs.  secured;  so  I 

need  not  worry  about  getting  work,  but  I  can 
work  for  others." 

To  celebrate  the  great  occasion  Miss  Sanford 
for  the  first  time  bought  something  for  herself 
that  she  considered  a  luxury.  She  had  always 
loved  beautiful  gloves  but  she  never  wore  them. 
She  had  always  loved  beautiful  lace  but  had 
never  allowed  herself  even  a  white  ruching  in 
her  dress.  She  would  have  loved  to  dress  in 
white  but  instead  had  always  dressed  in  black. 
She  always  loved  to  take  out  from  her  dress 
pocket  a  fresh  handkerchief,  neatly  folded,  to 
be  used  to  wipe  dust  from  her  hands,  but  she 
had  never  had  all  the  handkerchiefs  she  wanted. 
She  alwavs  used  men's  handkerchiefs  because 


.    MARIA  SANFORD  259 

they  were  used  only  for  her  hands;  and  now 
when  someone  gave  her  thirty  dollars  and 
urged  her  to  buy  with  it  something  for  herself, 
she  bought  thirty  men's  linen  handkerchiefs  for 
a  dollar  apiece,  and  for  once  in  her  life  had 
enough  of  something  she  wanted.  Her  hands, 
which  were  large,  were  compared  by  artists  to 
Lincoln's.  After  her  death  Miss  McKinstry 
painted  a  second  portrait  of  her,  selecting  for 
her  model  a  photograph  which  shows  the  beauty 
of  her  hand.  Five  portarits  of  her  are  known 
to  have  been  painted. 

Miss  Sanford  planned  every  birthday  to 
make  some  improvement.  She  chose  for  her 
seventy-fifth  to  wear  white  at  sleeves  and  neck. 
Thereafter  clerks  in  the  best  store  in  Minneap- 
olis took  pains  to  keep  for  her  boxes  of  niching' 
even  when  that  article  of  dress  was  not  in 
fashion. 


CHAPTER  IX 
HARVEST 

In  the  fall  of  1916  Miss  Sauford  received  no- 
tice from  the  secretary  of  the  Minneapolis 
Board  of  Education  that  one  of  the  public 
schools  was  to  be  named  in  her  honor.  She  was 
deeply  appreciative  and  at  once  adopted  the 
school,  which,  to  her  great  delight,  was  in  one 
of  the  newer  parts  of  the  city.  True  to  her 
'pioneering  instinct  she  remarked  many  times 
that  she  was  very  glad  the  school  which  received 
her  name  was  a  small  and  struggling  one.  It 
consisted  of  four  portables,  and  comprised  only 
the  first  four  grades.  As  soon  as  possible  Miss 
Sanford  visited  the  school,  spoke  to  the  chil- 
dren, and  from  that  time  on  became  their  fairy 
godmother.  At  her  first  visit  she  gave  to  each 
grade  a  motto.  To  the  first  she  gave  the  four 
B's:  "Be  clean,  be  kind,  be  courteous,  be 
true,"  the  meaning  of  which  was  explained, 
word  by  word,  by  their  teacher,  and  which  was 
kept  on  the  blackboard.  The  children  memo- 
rized the  motto  and  learned  to  write  it.  To  the 
higher  grades  she  gave  to  the  boys,  "I  am  going 
260 


MARIA  SANFORD  261 

to  be  a  fine,  strong,  noble  man";  and  to  the 
girls,  "I  am  going  to  be  a  true,  strong,  beauti- 
ful woman. ' '  These  were  copied  at  stated  inter- 
vals in  their  best  hand  writing  and  sent  to  Miss 
Sanford  so  that  she  could  see  the  improvement 
in  their  penmanship. 

Because  her  eightieth  birthday  occurred  in 
the  year  that  this  school  was  named  for  her, 
the  children  of  each  grade  sent  her  a  birthday 
gift.  Each  of  the  first  grade  sent  a  hand  made 
birthday  card,  and  letter.  One  said,  "I  hope 
you  will  have  a  good  time.  Christmas  will  be 
coming  soon.  I  love  you.  How  do  you  feel  to- 
day?" One  of  the  second  grade,  "I  wish  you  a 
happy  birthday.  I  go  to  the  nice  little  school 
that  is  named  after  you.  We  are  very  glad  that 
you  are  coming  to  see  us  Wednesday." 
Another,  "I  should  like  to  live  to  be  as  old  as 
you  and  do  as  many  lovely  things  for  people." 
One  of  the  third  grade,  "We  would  like  to  have 
you  tell  us  about  your  school  days  and  the  chil- 
dren of  that  time.  Our  building  is  not  as  good 
as  some  of  the  buildings  but  we  have  the  best 
play  grounds  in  the  city.  We  play  in  Farview 
Park.  This  is  the  highest  grade  in  the  school. 
We  are  the  only  children  who  have  ink  to  use. 
We  hope  you  will  like  our  school." 

Every  child  in  the  school  sent  Miss  Sanford 


262  MARIA  SANFOBD 

a  birthday  greeting,  and  the  principal  of  the 
school  sent  a  message  from  the  teachers.  Miss 
Sanford  treasured  all  these  letters  as  long  as 
she  lived.  The  grade  school  teachers  of  Minne- 
apolis also  sent  her  a  birthday  greeting  of 
eighty  dollars  in  gold,  presented  in  two  beauti- 
ful gilt  boxes  made  for  the  purpose,  and  a 
card :  "To  our  dear  Miss  Sanford :  You  have 
done  so  much  cheerfully  for  the  grade  teachers 
of  Minneapolis  that  we  venture  to  ask  you  to 
grant  us  one  more  favor,  to  accept  the  accom- 
panying birthday  gift  that  we  may  know  that 
our  gratitude  for  your  eighty  golden  years  is 
recognized  by  you. ' ' 

The  University  of  Minnesota  celebrated  the 
occasion  by  a  general  convocation  of  all  the  col- 
leges of  the  University  at  the  University  Ar- 
mory. "It  was  an  event.  University  and 
alumni  representatives  had  been  at  work  for 
weeks  arranging  for  this  all-state  convocation 
to  pay  tribute  to  Miss  Sanford.  On  the  stage 
with  the  honored  guests  sat  a  group  representa- 
tive of  the  whole  span  of  nearly  thirty  years 
in  which  Miss  Sanford  had  been  a  member  of 
the  University  faculty.  There  wras  Dr.  William 
Watts  Folwell,  first  president  of  the  Univer- 
sity, the  man  who  'discovered'  Miss  Sanford; 
Dr.  Cyrus  Northrop,  President  Emeritus  of  the 


MARIA  SANFORD  263 

University,  co-worker  with  Professor  Sanford 
for  twenty-five  years;  Professor  John  Corrin 
Hutchinson  of  the  Department  of  Greek,  who 
was  on  the  faculty  when  Miss  Sanford  joined 
it ;  Professor  Leroy  Arnold  of  Hamline  Univer- 
sity, Miss  Gratia  Countryman,  public  librar- 
ian, and  Professor  Oscar  Firkins,  formerly  a 
member  of  Miss  Sanford 's  department;  all 
three  of  these  were  her  former  students.  Pres- 
ident Vincent  presided.  The  group  contained 
the  three  men  who  had  presided  over  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  University  since  its  begin- 
ning, and  also  the  three  veterans  of  the  Univer- 
sity— Dr.  Folwell,  eighty-five  years  old;  Dr. 
Northrop,  eighty-two;  and  Miss  Sanford, 
eighty.  Dr.  Northrop  spoke  of  Miss  Sanford 
from  his  long  friendship  and  years  of  profes- 
sional relationship;  Professor  Hutchinson 
spoke  of  her  from  the  standpoint  of  a  colleague, 
Professor  Arnold  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
student  before  the  teacher ;  and  Miss  Country- 
man told  of  Miss  Sanford  as  a  citizen."  At 
the  close  of  her  address  Miss  Countryman,  on 
behalf  of  the  alumni,  presented  Miss  Sanford 
with  a  bouquet  of  eighty  pink  roses,  one  for 
each  year.  Professor  Firkins  then  read  a  poem 
written  for  the  occasion,  entitled 


264  MAEIA  SANFOKD 

MARIA 

What  name,  said  you  ?  No,  not  ' '  Mary, ' ' 
Debonair,  sedate,  and  chary, 
Not  "Marie,"  demure  and  wary, 

Fits  the  presence  I  acclaim: 
No,  the  thing  I  chant  is  bigger, 
It  is  impetus  and  vigor, 
Trueulence  it  is  and  rigor, 
It's  a  crisp  and  couchant  trigger, 

And  "Maria"  is  its  name. 

She's  no  April,  self -beguiled, 

With  a  dimmed  and  dropping  eyelid, 

Nor  a  May,  by  zephyrs  shy  led, 

To  some  brook's  enameled  play: 
She  is  winter,  lusty,  stinging, 
Winter,  martial,  cordial,  ringing, 
Fire-glow  with  frost-gleam  bringing, 
All  the  geese,  affrighted,  winging 
From  its  presence  far  away. 

Of  reforms  she  keeps  the  tally ; 
When  the  civic  virtues  rally, 
Leads  the  cry  and  heads  the  sally, 
With  her  besom  sweeps  the  alley, 

And  the  handle  of  the  same 
As  a  club  she  stoutly  uses, 
Stroke  for  stroke  she  ne  'er  refuses, 
Satan,  when  he  counts  his  bruises 

Pours  confusion  on  her  name. 

On  through  hootings  and  applauses 
She  can  steer  her  drove  of  causes, 
Propaganda  fierce  as  Shaw's  is 


MARIA  SANFORD  265 

Crashes  through  the  crapes  and  gauzes 

Raised  to  screen  the  bar  or  slum; 
If  reform  of  vigor  short  is, 
She  injects  the  aqua  fortis, 
Egging  on  to  speedier  sorties 
The  millenium,  that  tortoise, 

And  that  creeper,  Kingdom  Come. 

Quaking  beam  and  trembling  rafter 
Knew  her  hurricane  of  laughter, 
Strong  to  lift  and  buoy  and  waft  her 

To  some  far-off  land  of  mirth ; 
And  we  guessed  she  had  been  tippling 
On  that  liquor  blithely  rippling, 
That  intoxicant  called  Kipling, 

When  the  thunder-peal  had  birth. 

At  her  word,  compelling  fiat 
Tumult  shuddered  into  quiet, 
Despotism  fringed  with  riot 

Stamped  the  sway  Maria  bore; 
Did  some  student,  bold  of  feature, 
Strive  to  challenge  or  impeach  her, 
Override  or  overreach  her, 
Debris  from  that  hapless  creature 

Made  mosaic  of  the  floor. 

When  from  sharp  examination 
Back  came  themelet  or  oration, 
His  own  son — in  that  mutation — 

Scarce  the  student  parent  knew; 
Back  it  came  with  strange  injections, 
Drawn  and  quartered,  slit  in  sections; 


266  MARIA  SANFOBD 

Hintings  at  august  perfections, 
Charities  iced  with  corrections, 
At  his  head  Maria  threw. 

" Shall"  and  "Will,"  from  mixed  embraces, 
Scudded  to  their  lawful  places, 
Pronouns  rummaged  for  their  cases, 
Mincing  airs  and  mawkish  graces 

Vanished  to  some  kindlier  shore; 
How  the  air  grew  calorific, 
When  she  thundered,  "Be  specific! 
Prune  it !  Write  hieroglyphic 

When  you  're  mummies — -not  before ! ' ' 

Let  the  years  keep  up  their  snowballs; 
They  are  gossamers  and  blowballs; 
Charon  mourns  his  stinted  obols, 

Time  bewails  his  unpaid  score; 
Hers  were  sixties  hale  as  Goethe's, 
Romping  seventies  whose  fate  is 
On  into  the  madcap  eighties 

Fearless  and  uncurbed  to  pour. 

Praise  her  not  with  smug  obeisance, 
Sleek  and  millinered  complaisance! 
Save  your  peppermint  and  raisins 

Tor  the  dupe  of  sugared  lies! 
Praise  her,  travel-soiled  and  dusty, 
Praise  her,  vehement  and  gusty, 
Praise  her,  kinked  and  knurled  and  crusty, 
Leonine  and  hale  and  lusty, 
Praise  her,  oaken-ribbed  and  trusty, 

Shout  "Maria"  to  the  skies. 

0.  W.  Firkins. 


MARIA  SANFORD  267 

During  the  reading  of  Mr.  Firkins 's  poem, 
Miss  Sanford  showed  her  evident  enjoyment  of 
its  lines  in  the  way  which  all  her  students  knew 
so  well — her  face  aglow,  her  eyes  sparkling 
with  an  appreciation  of  its  humor  and  her 
whole  body  frequently  shaking  with  scarcely 
suppressed  merriment.  Her  response  to  all 
these  greetings  was  brief,  but  full  of  the  fire  of 
her  indomitable  personality.  She  spoke  with 
feeling  of  her  pride  in  the  love  of  her  students ; 
and  for  the  first  time  alluded  to  her  recent  need 
to  care  for  her  health. 

Following  the  exercises  at  the  University 
Miss  Sanford  was  entertained  at  luncheon  at 
the  home  of  one  of  her  friends ;  for  days  after- 
wards she  was  kept  busy  reading  scores  of 
letters  from  people  of  prominence,  from  former 
students,  and  from  people  who  were  grateful 
for  help  she  had  given  them.  One  of  the  let- 
ters she  especiaHy  treasured  contained  this  sen- 
tence: "It  is  hardly  necessary  to  wish  you 
happiness  and  merriment,  since  you  were  the 
original  inventor  and  patentee  of  those  states 
of  mind;  but  we  can  tell  you  how  glad  we  are 
that  you  did  invent  them." 

Another  writer  remarked:  "Herbert  Spen- 
cer some  where  says  (I  quote  this  to  show  my 
learning)  that  life  should  not  be  measured  by 


268  MARIA  SANFOBD 

its  length  but  by  its  amount.  Judged  by  this 
standard,  Methuselah,  dear  Miss  Sanford,  was 
an  infant  compared  to  you.  You  have  had  both 
length  of  life  and  fullness  of  life.  That  it  has 
been  a  life  of  renunciation  and  sacrifice  of  per- 
sonal happiness  I  know,  but  I  know  also  that  you 
would  be  the  last  to  regret  the  self-forgetful 
service  that  has  meant  so  much  to  the  many 
who  have  come  under  your  influence  during  the 
long  years  of  your  unceasing  activity."  The 
director  of  the  Minneapolis  Art  School  sent  his 
appreciation  of  the  noble  work  she  had  done 
for  the  advancement  of  culture  and  a  better 
understanding  of  art  among  the  young  people. 
A  more  personal  letter  came  from  a  well 
known  Minneapolis  woman:  "It  won't  hurt 
you,  I  know,  to  have  a  bit  of  a  love  letter  once  in 
awhile,  so  this  comes  to  tell  you  what  a  joy  you 
are  to  all  our  hearts.  You  must  know  that 
already,  and  yet  one's  capacity  to  assimilate 
the  expression  of  such  love  is  seldom  overtaxed, 
and  you — who  have  no  children  after  the  flesh 
to  call  you  *  Mother',  yet  have  hundreds  of  chil- 
dren after  the  spirit  who  sustain  that  relation- 
ship to  you — will  understand  a  word  from  one 
of  them.  To  see  a  spirit  incarnate,  triumphant 
over  all  the  material  things  of  life,  taking  on 
each  year  added  strength  and  beauty  and  with 


MARIA  SANFORD  269 

a  heart  large  enough  to  understand  the  bond 
and  the  free,  and  to  pour  daily  in  overflowing 
measure  inspiration  for  all,  makes  one  under- 
stand the  great  of  all  the  past,  and  reach  for- 
ward with  faith  and  hope  for  the  womanhood — 
nay,  the  manhood  as  well — of  all  the  future. 
All  this  you  do  and  we  love  you  and  revere  you 
for  it." 

Among  all  these  letters  from  prominent  peo- 
ple came  one  from  her  grand-nephew  "some- 
where in  France".  The  soldier  was  again  the 
boy  living  with  his  great-aunt  and  going  to 
school.  He  said:  "You  must  be  careful  of 
yourself  and  not  strain  that  back  of  yours.  I 
read  in  Mother's  letter  that  you  had  strained 
it  working  in  the  barn.  I  wish  I  were  there  to 
help  you  and  make  you  stop  lifting  those  he,avy 
things  which  hurt  your  back." 

To  all  these  friends  Miss  Sanford  sent 
through  the  press  a  printed  message:  "When 
I  heard  that  my  friends  had  been  asked  to  write 
letters  I  felt  sorry.  I  feared  that  it  would  be  a 
perfunctory  service,  a  kind  of  duty,  like  going 
to  a  funeral ;  but  the  letters,  messages  of  love, 
warmed  my  heart.  I  was  not  puffed  up.  I  have 
all  this  week  felt  like  the  wicked  old  sinner  who 
heard  a  sermon  on  universal  salvation.  He 
went  home,  saying  to  himself,  *  Blessed  doc- 


270  MARIA  SANFORD 

trine,  blessed  doctrine !  If  I  could  only  believe 
it!'" 

An  editorial  in  the  Minneapolis  Tribune  paid 
her  an  especially  warm  tribute:  "Dr.  George 
E.  Vincent  was  right  when  he  once  referred  to 
Miss  Sanford  as  'the  woman  who  had  been  re- 
tired and  didn't  know  it. '  Representative  Clar- 
ence B.  Miller,  of  Duluth,  was  right  too  when 
he  called  her  'the  best  known,  best  loved  woman 
in  Minnesota';  and  Dr.  William  W.  Folwell, 
first  president  of  the  University  of  Minnesota, 
has  a  clear  title  to  the  pride  that  is  in  him  be- 
cause he  'discovered'  Maria  Sanford.  Man- 
kind's biggest  item  of  debt  to  Maria  Sanford, 
however,  is  that  she  discovered  herself  away 
back  in  her  girlhood  days  in  New  England,  and 
that  she  has  made  the  most  of  that  discovery 
ever  since." 

The  other  papers  of  the  city  and  most  of 
those  of  the  state  did  Miss  Sanford  honor  on 
this  day ;  and,  as  she  had  done  once  before,  she 
gave  her  message  through  the  press  to  the  pub- 
lic. The  one  for  this  day  was  perhaps  the  most 
notable  of  all.  She  said,  "Work  is  life  to  me. 
It  always  has  been  and  always  will  be.  I  am 
hoping  that  my  health  and  strength  will  hold  out 
for  another  ten  years,  to  enable  me  to  do  things 


MARIA  SANFORD  271 

• 

for  others  that  I  have  always  longed  to  do  but 
never  had  the  time." 

The  next  great  event  of  Miss  Sanford's  life 
occurred  in  June,  1917.  Although  she  had  been  a 
university  professor  for  nearly  thirty  years  she 
had  no  degree.  The  University  of  Minnesota 
had  never  granted  an  honorary  degree,  so  that 
Miss  Sanford  was  in  the  peculiar  position  of  a 
professor  with  no  degree  at  all.  Many  of  her 
friends  had  expressed  the  wish  that  this  honor 
might  be  given  to  one  so  worthy;  but  it  was  a 
retired  public  school  teacher  who  took  the  first 
definite  steps  toward  the  accomplishment  of  the 
desire ;  and  a  trustee  of  Carleton  College,  one  of 
Miss  Sanford's  old  students,  who  carried  it  out. 
At  the  June  commencement,  1917,  Carleton 
College  conferred  upon  President  Emeritus 
Cyrus  Northrop,  of  the  University  of  Minne- 
sota, the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws.  Although 
other  universities  had  long  before  conferred  the 
degree  on  him,  President  Cowling  stated  that 
in  the  wrhole  fifty  years  of  its  existence  Carle- 
ton  College  had  never  before  conferred  this 
degree.  At  the  same  time  Miss  Sanford  was 
made  a  Doctor  of  the  More  Humane  Letters. 
In  a  simple  undergraduate's  gown,  she  was 
presented  for  the  degree  by  a  former  student 
of  her  own,  who  was  at  that  time  Dean  of 


272  MARIA  SANFORD 

Women  of  Carleton  College.  The  most  memo- 
rable passage  in  the  presentation  went  to  the 
hearts  of  the  hearers :  * '  She  is  an  example  of 
noble  Christian  womanhood,  with  an  energy  of 
fire  and  a  heart  of  peace  .  .  .  gracious, 
loving,  and  beloved,  to  whom  nothing  human  is 
alien. " 

President  Cowling  said  that  the  College  hon- 
ored itself  in  thus  showing  its  appreciation  of 
the  two  best  loved  educators  of  Minnesota.  At 
the  age  of  more  than  eighty  years  Miss  Sanf  ord 
was  as  happy  to  have  a  right  to  the  title  of 
Doctor  as  only  one  could  be  who  had  had  so 
stressful  a  life.  It  gave  her  a  justifiable  pleas- 
ure thereafter  to  have  her  letters  addressed  to 
Dr.  Maria  Sanf  ord ;  and  her  friends  were  mind- 
ful of  their  opportunity  to  give  her  the  new 
title. 

Her  health  during  the  summer  was  so  much 
improved  that  she  was  busy  in  the  state  with 
work  for  child  welfare,  liberty  loan  campaigns, 
and  woman  suffrage.  She  talked  to  business 
women's  clubs,  to  Jewish  and  Catholic  Associa- 
tions. Every  kind  of  body  working  for  the  pub- 
lic welfare  wanted  her  advice  and  approbation. 

Her  interest  in  the  public  school  which  had 
been  named  for  her  was  largely  an  indication 
of  her  firm  loyalty  to  the  public  school  system 


MARIA  SANFORD  273 

of  the  country.  She  believed  private  schools 
for  young  children  in  a  democracy  were  a  grave 
mistake.  When  an  opportunity  offered  itself 
for  her  to  express  her  belief  to  one  of  the  prom- 
inent supporters  of  several  private  schools  she 
wrote  as  follows:  "Though  until  last  evening 
you  were  a  stranger  to  me,  I  have  long  known 
and  honored  your  reputation  for  wisdom  and 
public  spirit,  and  I  have  wished  I  might  say  to 
you  what  I  am  now  taking  the  liberty  to  say.  I 
have  been  thinking  deeply  of  the  subject 
touched  upon  in  our  conversation  on  the  way 
home.  You  will,  I  think,  agree  with  me  that  the 
public  school  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  insti- 
tutions, and  that  all  good  citizens  should  be 
jealous  of  its  popularity.  Xow,  suppose  that 
you  were  devoted  to  the  public  schools  as  Mr. 
Pillsbury  was  to  the  State  University.  Let  me 
say  first  that  I  feel  enthusiastic  admiration  for 
the  particular  private  schools  in  which  you  are 
interested  but  I  am  a  devotee  of  the  public 
schools  and  I  have  regarded  with  deep  regret 
the  devotion  which  such  men  as  yourself  are 
giving  to  private  schools.  When  people  with 
shallow  notions  of  pride  choose  private  schools 
it  does  not  matter,  but  when  men  like  yourself 
and  the  other  trustees  of  these  private  schools, 
men  of  public  spirit  and  good  judgment,  stand 

18 


274  MAEIA  SANFOBD 

for  exclusive  schools,  it  is  a  public  loss.  If  a 
hundred  men  like  yourself,  having  taste,  refine- 
ment and  wealth,  had  each  been  giving  to  the 
public  school  which  his  children  attended  as 
much  time,  enthusiastic  interest  and  money  as 
you  are  giving  to  the  private  schools,  and  some 
one  should  induce  them  to  transfer  their  inter- 
ests to  a  private  institution,  could  any  advan- 
tage their  children  obtained  equal  the  loss  of 
their  interest  in  and  devotion  to  the  public 
schools?" 

At  this  period  Miss  Sanford  was  glad  to  be 
able  to  stay  nearer  home  for  a  time,  especially 
in  cold  weather.  Each  succeeding  birthday  was 
felt  to  be  an  event  of  public  significance.  Her 
eighty-first  birthday  was  celebrated  by  a  din- 
ner given  at  Senator  James  Elwell's,  at  which 
the  President  of  the  University  and  his  wife,  the 
two  ex-presidents  and  their  wives,  and  friends 
to  the  number  of  fourteen  were  present.  On 
the  day  following,  the  children  of  the  Maria 
Sanford  School  celebrated  the  occasion.  Each 
pupil  had  written  and  sent  through  the  mail  an 
invitation  to  their  patron  to  attend  the  celebra- 
tion. On  this  occasion  they  brought  gifts  from 
home.  Some  had  baked  pies  and  cakes  and 
cookies.  Others  made  candy  and  crullers, 
bread,  book  marks,  handkerchiefs  and  paper 


MARIA  SANFOKD  275 

wreaths.  One  little  girl  who  could  not  cook 
brought  two  eggs,  each  bearing  on  its  shell  the 
penciled  legend  that  it  had  been  laid  on  Miss 
Sanford 's  birthday.  Some  of  the  small  boys 
made  a  cake  holder  with  a  place  for  eighty-one 
candles  around  the  edge.  The  littlest  children 
made  decorated  birthday  cards  with  their  own 
drawings  and  some  of  the  cards  with  the  sen- 
tence, ' '  I  love  you ' '  printed  on  them,  and  signed 
their  names  to  the  cards.  The  other  children 
wrote  little  birthday  letters.  All  of  these  gifts 
Miss  Sanford  kept. 

The  school  at  this  time  was  presented  by  the 
Thomas  Lowry  School  of  Minneapolis  with  six 
beautiful  pictures  in  honor  of  Professor  San- 
ford.  A  friend  of  Miss  Sanford 's  also  gave 
to  the  school  a  beautiful  reproduction  of  the 
sculptor  Daniel  Chester  French's  frieze,  The 
Teacher,  executed  for  Wellesley  College.  Miss 
Sanford  took  lunch  with  the  teachers  on  this 
day,  talked  to  them  as  a  body,  and  gave  four 
talks  to  pupils  in  four  different  rooms,  because 
there  was  no  assembly  room  to  which  they 
could  all  repair.  She  received  their  great  array 
of  gifts  and  heard  dozens  of  presentation 
speeches.  When  it  was  all  over  she  put  a  star 
after  this  one  of  a  long  list  of  birthdays,  and 
asked  that  the  names  of  pupils  neither  absent 


276  MARIA  SANFORD 

nor  tardy  each  term  should  be  sent  to  her  to  be 
placed  on  her  roll  of  honor. 

During  the  winter,  while  she  was  on  a  trip  to 
Montana,  she  sent  some  sleds  to  the  children  of 
the  school.  Farview  Park  adjoining  the  school 
gave  them  the  most  wonderful  playground  in 
the  city ;  and  the  children  enjoyed  sliding  in  the 
park.  So  much  did  they  enjoy  the  sleds  that 
the  teachers  took  a  novel  way  of  getting  obedi- 
ence. The  child  who  was  best  in  each  room 
during  the  day  was  allowed  to  take  a  sled  home 
over  night,  returning  it  to  school  the  next  day. 
At  the  end  of  the  week  the  child  who  had  been 
best  all  the  week  took  the  sled  home  Friday 
night  to  keep  until  the  following  Monday. 

As  the  school  was  in  need  of  funds  for  some 
apparatus  Miss  Sanford  gave  four  lectures  for 
that  purpose.  At  the  request  of  the  teachers 
she  gave  them  on  several  occasions  a  model 
reading  lesson.  The  children,  on  their  part, 
whenever  they  had  anything  they  could  share 
with  Miss  Sanford  were  eager  to  do  so.  The 
school  had  been  presented  with  a  victrola  which 
the  children  wished  to  have  some  one  enjoy 
during  the  summer  vacation,  and  so  sent  it  to 
Miss  Sanford 's  home.  They  had  learned  to  sing 
with  its  aid  her  favorite  songs,  Home,  Sweet 
Home,  Annie  Laurie,  and  Brahm's  Lullaby. 


MARIA  SANFOBD  277 

This  exchange  of  good  wishes  and  gifts  made 
a  very  strong  bond  between  the  children  and 
their  benefactor.  She  did  not  forget  them  even 
when  school  was  out.  She  was  interested  in 
clean-up  week  observances  by  the  schools,  and  to 
encourage  the  pupils  to  keep  up  the  observance 
throughout  the  year  she  drove  around  the  neigh- 
borhood in  the  summer,  inspecting  the  home 
yards  and  praising  all  the  good  work  she  saw. 
Her  interest  extended  to  each  pupil.  She  talked 
privately,  for  instance,  to  one  boy  who  was  try- 
ing to  break  the  habits  of  truancy  and  smoking, 
and  told  him  she  was  proud  of  the  efforts  he  had 
made.  She  also  told  the  children  that  she  wanted 
her  Liberty  Loan  bond  purchase  made  through 
the  school. 

The  first  principal  of  the  school  gives  a  vivid 
account  of  the  relation  of  Miss  Sanford  to  the 
children;  "From  beginning  to  end  the  circum- 
stances of  Miss  Sanford 's  connection  with  the 
school,  its  pupils  and  teachers,  were  those  rare 
in  human  experience — without  a  flaw.  Her 
first  visit  was  on  the  twentieth  of  December, 
1916.  Our  little  school  was  completed  in  No- 
vember, so  we  planned  for  a  party  on  Miss  San- 
ford's  birthday.  The  weather  turned  bitterly 
cold,  28°  below  zero,  and  as  our  portable  build- 
ings were  stove  heated  and  the  floors  cold,  I 


278  MARIA  SANFORD 

telephoned  her  on  the  evening  before,  that  al- 
though it  would  be  a  disappointment  to  the  chil- 
dren, I  preferred  our  plans  should  be  post- 
poned rather  than  that  she  should  run  any  risk 
of  taking  cold  from  exposure.  She  replied,  in 
her  energetic  way,  that  she  would  be  with  us, 
and  the  next  day,  there  she  was,  and  so  inter- 
ested in  the  little  people  of  the  school !  As  for 
them  it  was  a  case  of  love  at  first  sight.  They 
said, '  How  little  she  is,  but  how  big  a  voice  she 
has,  and  her  eyes  are  so  bright !  We  love  her ! ' 

"On  that  first  visit  she  told  them  that  they 
were  all  her  children.  I  am  sure  that  the  boys 
and  girls  who  were  there  that  day  will  never 
forget  her  talk.  After  the  pupils  were  dis- 
missed she  talked  to  the  teachers,  young  assist- 
ants who  were  just  beginning  their  work  in 
Minneapolis.  She  told  them  of  her  early  teach- 
ing, of  its  failures  and  its  triumphs.  One  of 
the  girls,  who  had  been  seriously  considering 
giving  up  the  profession  said,  'Miss  Sanford 
has  given  me  a  new  outlook.  My  discourage- 
ment has  vanished  in  thin  air.  I  feel  that  she 
has  made  teaching  the  noblest  of  professions, 
and  I  am  glad  to  follow  where  she  has  led. ' 

"One  incident  which  greatly  amused  Miss 
Sanford  grew  out  of  her  talk  on  the  use  of  good 
English.  Some  of  the  larger  boys  were  so  im- 


MARIA  SANFORD  279 

pressed  that  they  constituted  themselves  a  vig- 
ilance committee  to  stop  the  use  of  profanity. 
There  was  an  immediate  improvement  in  the 
choice  of  words  on  the  play  ground  as  the  cul- 
prits were  brought  to  the  office.  One  recess  a 
delegation  appeared  dragging  in  a  boy  who 
stood  with  averted  face  while  they  reported, 
'He  has  been  swearing.'  I  questioned  him  and 
he  admitted  that  the  charge  was  just.  Then  I 
inquired  what  he  had  said  and  a  chorus  replied 
'  He  said  gee  whiz,  he  did ! ' 

"She  took  a  personal  interest  in  the  children 
One  bright  little  French  boy,  whose  home  was  on 
the  river  flats,  made  a  recitation  which  pleased 
her.  She  noticed  the  ragged  condition  of  his 
clothes,  and  insisted  upon  ordering  for  him  a 
new  outfit.  Knowing  that  her  purse  was  not  so 
large  as  her  heart  I  refused  to  permit  her  to  do 
this,  and  through  the  Children's  Relief  Society 
had  the  boy  better  clothed  before  her  next  visit. 
A  dwarfed  child  excited  her  sympathy  and  in- 
terest, and,  at  her  solicitation,  a  specialist  ex- 
amined him  and  reported  that  in  his  case  there 
was  no  remedy  She  gave  sympathetic  advice 
and  praise  to  a  lad  who  had  a  terrible  inherit- 
ance and  who  was  making  a  valiant  and  success- 
ful struggle  against  an  appetite  for  drink. 

"To   encourage    the   habit   of   saving,    she 


280  MARIA  SANFORD 

bought  thrift  stamps  to  be  given  as  rewards  to 
those  who  earned  and  saved  their  pennies.  Ev- 
ery month  slips  containing  specimens  of  the  chil- 
dren's penmanship  were  sent  her,  and  she  faith- 
fully compared  them  with  those  of  the  previous 
month.  Her  honor  roll  contained  the  names  of 
those  neither  absent  nor  tardy  during  the  term. 
In  a  letter  written  from  Montana  she  says  'I 
am  keeping  the  list  carefully  in  my  trunk  and 
when  I  get  home  I  shall  hang  it  up  in  my  room. ' 
In  the  same  letter  she  refers  to  the  fifth  grade 
pupils  who  had  been  transferred  to  the  Bremer 
School.  She  says,  'I  want  you  to  tell  the  boys 
and  girls  who  have  gone  to  the  Bremer  that  they 
are  still  my  boys  and  girls,  and  that  I  shall 
look  for  their  names  on  the  roll  of  honor  just 
the  same  as  before' ;  and  again  she  says, '  I  can- 
not tell  you  how  dear  to  me  that  school  is,  how 
I  love  the  teachers  and  the  children,  and  how  I 
long  to  see  them.  I  am  sure  the  school  is,  and 
is  to  be,  one  of  the  brightest  and  most  blessed 
spots  in  Minneapolis. ' 

"On  one  occasion  after  her  return  from  an 
eastern  trip  Miss  Sanford  said  to  the  pupils 
that  when  she  was  away  from  Minneapolis  her 
first  thought  was  of  her  home,  but  her  second 
was  always  of  the  school.  The  pupils  held  her 
in  the  deepest  reverence.  Their  regard  for  her 


MARIA  SANFORD  281 

was,  I  believe,  unusual  in  the  hearts  of  children 
so  young.  We  think  of  reverence  as  a  tribute 
from  more  mature  natures,  but  over  and  again 
it  was  manifested  there.  Their  greatest  joy, 
their  highest  reward,  was  to  have  Miss  Sanford 
visit  the  school.  They  loved  to  write  to  her,  to 
make  for  her  Christmas  cards,  valentines  and 
Easter  greetings. 

"Miss  Sanford 's  last  visit  to  the  school  was 
in  the  spring  of  1919.  The  occasion  was  the 
presentation  of  the  white  ribbons  and  pins  at 
the  completion  of  the  campaign  for  cleanliness. 
The  exercises  were  held  in  the  ravine  on  the 
east  side  of  Farview  Park.  It  was  a  perfect 
day,  and  an  ideal  setting  for  our  pageant.  The 
pupils  who  had  left  our  school  to  attend  the 
higher  grades  in  the  Hawthorne  and  Bremer 
were  excused  in  time  to  join  us.  One  of  the 
lads,  acting  as  king,  knighted  those  who  had 
kept  their  vows  (brushing  teeth,  bathing,  deep 
breathing  in  the  open  air),  and  then  the  young 
knights  marched  to  where  Miss  Sanford  sat 
embowered  in  flowers  and  knelt  before  their 
Queen  to  receive  their  badges  and  her  blessing. 
Her  talk,  interspersed  with  the  songs  of  birds, 
was  like  her  life,  earnest,  pure,  inspiring,  up- 
lifting. Since  it  was  to  be  her  last  time  there, 
I  am  deeply  grateful  that  it  was  so  perfect  an 


282  MARIA  SANFORD 

ending  of  the  sweet  relationship  which  from 
first  to  last  was  a  benediction  to  us  all. ' ' 

During  the  winter  Miss  Sanford's  health  was 
so  much  impaired  that  she  wrote  to  a  former 
student  and  member  of  her  faculty :  *  *  The  doc- 
tors have  found  by  X-ray  a  very  serious  aneur- 
ism of  the  aorta.  I  am  forbidden  to  do  any 
manual  labor  and  to  have  any  mental  excite- 
ment. Fortunately  lecturing  does  not  come  un- 
der either  of  these  heads,  and  I  spoke  four 
times  last  week  and  have  another  lecture  for 
this  afternoon.  It  is  mostly  work  without  pay, 
but  that  is  what  I  have  laid  out  for  myself  for 
these  years,  and  I  am  willing  to  be  dreadful 
careful  if  I  may  only  be  allowed  to  help  in  the 
work  in  which  I  am  interested;  if  not  I  shall 
fold  my  hands  and  trust  that  the  work  may  be 
put  on  those  more  capable.  ...  I  can 
enjoy  fun  just  as  well  as  ever,  even  though  I 
know  I  am  walking  in  the  shadow  of  death.  God 
meant  life  to  be  bright,  and  we  serve  him  in 
making  it  so;  and  then  I  may  live  years,  and 
it  would  be  a  pity  to  carry  a  long  face  all  that 
time." 

A  doctor  at  a  distance  who  knew  of  Miss  San- 
ford 's  poor  health  wrote  to  her  concerning  it: 
"I  am  taking  the  liberty  of  writing  the  'best 
loved  woman  in  Minnesota '  a  little  note.  I  feel 


MARIA  SANFORD  283 

that  I  also  belong  to  the  circle  of  your  friends, 
for  you  have  given  me  a  share  in  your  hope  and 
good  cheer.  I  realize  the  gravity  of  the  news 
that  the  doctor  conveyed  to  you  with  regard  to 
your  health,  but  after  all  what  does  it  matter 
what  gate  God  leaves  open  when  he  wants  to 
bring  his  children  home !  I  admired  your  pluck 
in  going  on  with  your  life  as  you  had  planned, 
and  I  also  think  your  judgment  was  sound. 
Talking  is  not  so  much  an  effort  to  you  as 
forced  retirement,  and,  strange  as  it  may  seem, 
few  people  ever  died  of  aneurism  but  rather  of 
some  of  the  inter-current  diseases.  Some  day 
when  I  am  in  the  city  I  am  going  to  call  just  to 
see  you  in  your  home,  so  I  can  have  that  picture 
of  you  in  my  mind. ' ' 

Early  in  the  year  1918  Miss  Sanford  stated 
that  to  her  Carnegie  pension  of  fifteen  hundred 
dollars  she  had  added  an  irregular  sum  of 
from  four  to  eight  hundred  dollars  a  year  by 
lecturing.  During  this  year  she  spent  much 
more  than  her  earnings  in  the  support  of  her 
niece  and  children  who  were  refugees  from 
Turkey,  and  in  the  education  of  other  children 
belonging  to  her  family.  She  still  felt  that  she 
must  do  as  much  lecturing  as  possible. 

Starting  from  her  nephew's  home  in  North 
Dakota  early  in  the  year  Miss  Sanford  pro- 


284  MAKIA  SANFOKD 

ceeded  westward,  making  patriotic  speeches  on 
an  average  of  two  a  day,  until  she  reached  the 
University  of  Montana  at  Missoula.  There  she 
ended  a  two  day  patriotic  speaking  campaign  in 
which  she  appeared  before  the  high  school  once, 
at  the  university  twice,  at  a  luncheon  in  her 
honor  at  noon  and  at  the  church  in  the  evening. 
This  lecture  tour  was  her  contribution  to  her 
country  in  its  crisis.  She  said  as  she  had  no 
husband,  sons  or  grandsons  to  send  to  the  war 
she  must  do  something  on  her  own  initiative; 
and  that  was  what  she  chose  to  do. 

Her  spirits  were  saddened  by  the  news  from 
the  front.  In  a  letter  to  her  niece  at  home  she 
wrote:  "I  really  was  very  blue  yesterday.  I 
felt  as  if  this  would  be  my  last  trip.  You  see, 
Saturday  night  the  paper  brought  Haig's  ad- 
dress to  his  army  and  I  was  very  much  de- 
pressed by  it.  That  night  I  did  not  sleep,  but 
last  night 's  news  was  more  hopeful.  I  do  hope 
the  reserves  will  come  to  the  help  of  those  brave 
British  soldiers.  The  loss  of  the  channel  ports 
would  be  dreadful.  Well,  last  night  I  went  to 
sleep  about  nine  o  'clock  and  did  not  waken  until 
morning.  Such  a  thing  has  not  happened  in  a 
long  time,  and  all  the  world  looks  brighter  this 
morning. "  A  few  days  later,  "Isn't  it  good 
the  English  are  still  holding  firm!  I  do  hope 


MARIA  SANFORD  285 

they  will  not  fail.  ...  I  make  my  ex- 
penses just  as  little  as  possible  but  I  can't  re- 
sist the  desire  to  get  a  paper  morning  and  even- 
ing." In  the  month  of  May  Miss  Sanford  was 
traveling  so  rapidly  that  she  wrote  her  niece 
where  she  could  be  found.  From  Great  Falls, 
Montana,  she  wrote:  "I  have  two  lectures  to- 
day. Tomorrow  I  go  to  Fort  Benton.  Monday 
I  go  to  Chouteau,  Tuesday,  Wednesday  and 
Thursday  I  lecture  here  and  Friday  twice.  Fri- 
day I  leave  here,  stopping  at  Highland  to  give 
their  commencement  address.  Then  Saturday 
night  I  start  for  home.  This  has  a  pleasant 
sound  to  me,  I  assure  you." 

Miss  Sanford  gave  five  lectures  in  one  day  at 
Lewistown,  Montana,  talking  three  hours  and  a 
half  in  all.  At  the  Lewistown  High  School  she 
spoke  at  8 :30  A. '  M.,  at  the  Clarkson  High 
School  across  the  river  at  11  A.  M.,  at  the  Lew- 
istown Normal  School  at  2  P.  M.,  at  another 
school  in  the  afternoon,  and  at  a  Red  Cross 
meeting  at  the  same  place  in  the  evening.  This 
she  said  was  the  most  strenuous  day  she  ex- 
perienced on  this  trip,  during  which  she  gave  a 
hundred  talks  in  about  six  weeks.  Our  Duty 
to  Our  Country  was  always  the  subject  of  the 
evening  talks.  She  was  particularly  proud  of 
the  ovation  she  received  at  a  big  Red  Cross 


286  MARIA  SANFORD 

meeting  at  Great  Falls,  Montana.  The  hall  was 
packed  and  nearly  three  hundred  people  had  to 
stand.  A  silver  collection  was  announced,  and 
to  spur  the  people  on  to  give  freely  for  the  Bed 
Cross  Miss  Sanford  told  them  an  old  Connecti- 
cut recipe  for  pieplant  pie:  "Put  in  all  the 
sugar  your  conscience  will  let  you,  and  then 
shut  your  eyes  and  put  in  another  handful." 
This  appeal  brought  eighty-five  dollars  in  about 
a  minute. 

While  Miss  Sanford  was  urging  people  to 
forego  luxuries  in  order  to  give  for  the  war, 
she  felt  that  she  herself  must  do  what  she  asked 
others  to  do.  She  did  not  feel  that  she  had  a 
right  to  go  into  a  dining  car  and  spend  a  dollar 
for  a  meal ;  so  she  stopped  at  the  lunch  counters 
and  bought  her  meals  for  twenty  or  twenty-five 
cents.  The  other  seventy-five  cents,  she  felt, 
belonged  to  the  Government  for  the  successful 
prosecution  of  the  war. 

On  this  trip  Miss  Sanford  made  one  of  her 
visits  to  the  Indian  School  at  Browning,  Mon- 
tana. The  Blackfeet  Indian  Keservation  she 
had  visited  three  times  during  the  preceding 
six  months,  at  her  own  expense,  because  she 
knew  that  the  Indian  children  were  suffering 
Avith  trachoma,  and  she  hoped  to  be  able  to  help 
them  by  encouraging  them  to  treat  their  eyes. 


MARIA  SANFORD  287 

The  control  she  had  over  the  children  was  so 
great  that  the  agency  physician  wrote  through 
the  special  supervisor  in  charge  of  the  Black- 
feet  School  to  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Af- 
fairs at  Washington,  asking  if  there  was  any 
way  by  which  Miss  Sanf  ord  could  be  identified 
with  the  Indian  service.  If  so  he  felt  that  it 
should  by  all  means  be  done.  Miss  Sanf  ord  in 
writing  home  to  her  niece  said:  "I  hope  to 
make  the  children  anxious  to  take  the  treatment 
and  do  just  as  the  doctors  tell  them,  but  I  tell 
you  it  is  pretty  hard  to  think  of  having  a  pain- 
ful application  to  your  eyes  two  or  three  times  a 
week  for  a  year!  Then  they  must  use  their 
own  towels,  and  this  is  hard  in  homes  where 
people  are  careless;  but  I  hope  to  reach  all  of 
them  at  last." 

She  made  another  effort  to  do  something  for 
Browning  by  writing  to  the  Department  of  the 
Interior  at  Washington  to  see  if  Browning 
could  not  be  made  a  townsite.  Then  the  people 
could  put  in  water  and  lights  and  could  bond 
the  town  for  such  a  school  building  as  they 
needed.  This  would  also  give  the  vote  to  many 
men  who  were  not  then  voters. 

On  a  previous  visit  Miss  Sanford  had  urged 
the  people  to  interest  the  young  Indians  in  en- 
listing in  the  army.  She  felt  that  for  the  sake 


288  MARIA  SANFORD 

of  the  younger  children  the  young  men  who 
were  loafing  about  the  town  should  be  sent 
away,  and  that  for  the  young  men  themselves 
nothing  could  be  so  valuable  as  the  discipline 
they  would  get  in  the  army  and  the  habits  of 
constant  employment  which  they  would  there 
learn.  She  knew  that  some  Indians  from  Min- 
nesota who  had  joined  the  army  were  reported 
as  excellent  soldiers;  that  the  discipline  had 
had  an  admirable  effect  upon  them.  Influenced 
by  what  Miss  Sanford  said  the  people  of 
Browning  had  an  enthusiastic  patriotic  meet- 
ing, as  a  result  of  which  a  number  of  the  young 
Indians  enlisted.  But  after  Indians  were  sent 
back  on  the  ground  that  as  wards  and  non- 
citizens  they  could  not  be  employed  in  the  army, 
Miss  Sanford  asked  the  Assistant  Commis- 
sioner at  Washington  if  there  was  not  a  possi- 
bility of  correcting  this  by  allowing  the  Indians 
to  enlist  as  they  were,  or  by  granting  citizen- 
ship to  any  willing  to  enlist. 

During  this  trip  to  the  west  Miss  Sanford 
wrote  to  her  niece  at  home  "My  own  affairs 
have  not  gone  very  prosperously.  I  hoped  to 
get  two  lectures  that  I  did  not  get,  and  one  in 
the  west  that  I  planned  on  paid  me  less  money 
than  I  expected.  Still  I  keep  up  pretty  good 
courage  so  long  as  I  feel  pretty  well.  I  feel  that 


MARIA    SANFORD 
In  Wyoming 


MAEIA  SANFORD  289 

I  have  been  of  real  benefit  to  these  Indian  chil- 
dren and  that  pays  me  for  all  I  have  spent  and 
suffered.  I  should  not  have  decided  to  come  on 
only  I  wanted  to  see  and  talk  to  them. 

"The  doctor  said  every  child  must  have  a 
separate  wash  basin  as  well  as  towels.  The 
afternoon  of  the  day  I  spoke  to  them  there  was 
a  regular  rush  for  the  store  to  get  the  basins. 
This  shows  they  did  heed. 

"I  have  been  a  little  down  hearted  some  days 
because  I  do  not  see  my  way  clear,  but  I  know 
that  does  not  help. 

"I  was  quite  successful  in  my  errand  for  the 
Indians  and  I  hope  my  coming  may  be  a  source 
of  good  to  them.  I  had  an  interview  with  the 
deputy  commissioner.  The  commissioner  was 
out  of  town,  and  I  had  a  very  pleasant  inter- 
view with  a  senator  who  is  much  interested  in 
the  Indians.  I  am  very  glad  I  came." 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  people  of  Browning 
were  as  glad  as  she ;  for  as  a  result  of  her  visit 
there  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  terrible  scourge  of 
trachoma  was  stamped  out.  And  a  visit  she 
made  to  "Washington  at  her  own  expense  enabled 
the  people  to  get  fifteen  thousand  dollars  toward 
their  much  needed  school  house. 

On  her  return  home  in  July  she  took  part  in 
a  historic  pageant  presented  by  the  Civic  Play- 


290  MAEIA  SANFORD 

ers  of  Minneapolis  on  the  steps  of  the  Minne- 
apolis Institute  of  Fine  Arts.  This  pageant, 
entitled  The  Torch  Bearers,  was  given  for  the 
Council  of  National  Defense,  the  proceeds  to  go 
to  the  Jewish  War  Relief  Fund.  The  proceeds 
of  a  second  presentation  were  used  by  the  Min- 
nesota Division  of  the  National  Council  of  De- 
fense for  patriotic  propaganda. 

A  prologue  in  verse  and  five  episodes  with 
an  interlude  were  prepared  by  the  president  of 
the  Civic  Players,  who  was  one  of  her  former 
students.  After  the  fifth  episode  of  the  pageant, 
Miss  Sanford  appeared  on  the  steps  of  the  Art 
Institute  to  represent  the  Voice  of  the  People. 
A  reporter  began  his  review  of  the  pageant: 
"A  little  old  lady  in  a  black  dress  stood  on  the 
topmost  step  at  the  entrance  to  the  Art  Insti- 
tute, framed  in  an  orgy  of  gorgeous  color.  On 
pedestals  at  the  side  were  groups  of  Belgian 
refugees,  who  had  trailed  painfully  up  the  long 
flights  of  steps  to  find  shelter  with  Mother 
Earth  and  with  Liberty.  Beside  her,  with  the 
great  white  pillars  of  the  Institute  as  a  back- 
ground were  Columbia,  Justice,  Fraternity, 
Equality,  and  the  women  of  Columbia's  Court, 
holding  in  their  arms  an  abundance  of  flowers 
and  grains.  Flags  of  the  allies  waved  trium- 
phantly. The  little  old  lady  looked  down  into  the 


MARIA  SANFOKD  291 

faces  of  hundreds  of  soldiers  and  sailors, 
massed  row  on  row  on  the  white  steps.  Then  she 
raised  her  arms  and  spoke  so  clearly  that  she 
could  be  heard  by  every  one  of  the  nine  thou- 
sand people  in  the  audience.  No  moment  of  the 
pageant  of  The  Torch  Bearers  approached  in 
beauty  or  impressiveness  this  picture  with 
Maria  Sanford,  'Minnesota's  Grand  Old  Lady/ 
exhorting  the  audience  on  the  white  stairway: 
' '  *  Go  forth ;  you  are  the  torch  bearers  of  a 
higher  civilization.  Over  there  is  darkness  and 
oppression  and  misery.  Go  forth,  bear  light 
and  freedom  and  joy!  Your  courage  shall  de- 
feat the  oppressor !  Your  strength  shall  tram- 
ple his  ranks  in  the  dust!  Your  self-sacrifice 
and  devotion  shall  bind  up  the  broken  hearted 
and  bring  to  those  who  sit  in  darkness  and  the 
shadow  of  death  light  and  life,  victory  and 
peace.  Go  forth  triumphant  on  this  glorious 
mission! 

"  'Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  tears, 
Our  faith  triumphant  o'er  our  fears, 
Are  all  with  thee;  are  all  with  thee,' 

"No  cheers  greeted  Miss  Sanford  as  she  fin- 
ished her  address.  Heads  were  bowed  through- 
out the  audience  and  the  voices  that  sang  the 
Star  Spangled  Banner  a  few  seconds  later  were 
softened  into  reverence." 


292  MAEIA  SANFOKD 

As  much  as  Miss  Sanford  appreciated  the 
praise  of  her  friends  she  felt  that  the  reporter 
had  given  too  much  prominence  to  her  appear- 
ance on  this  occasion  and  wrote  him  a  note  to 
that  effect.  It  happened  that  he  was  one  of  her 
former  students,  and  in  reply  to  her  letter  he 
said:  "Out  of  the  thousands  of  students  who 
enjoyed  your  guidance  it  is  unlikely  that  you 
can  remember  me  personally  and  you  probably 
have  no  recollection  of  me,  yet  when  your  hap- 
pily phrased  note  came  yesterday  it  brought 
back  to  me  the  eagerness  with  which  I  antici- 
pated your  classes  when  I  attended  them  nearly 
fifteen  years  ago,  and  because  I  did  enjoy  them 
and  gained  much  from  them  it  was  not  only  a 
great  privilege  but  a  great  pleasure  to  be  able 
to  review  the  pageant  and  to  say  a  few  words — 
however  much  they  fell  short  of  intention — 
about  one  of  the  most  stirring  speeches  to  which 
I  ever  have  listened.  It  seemed  to  me  that  you 
did  a  very  wonderful  thing  that  evening,  and  I 
don't  believe  it  possible  to  measure  the  amount 
of  patriotism  that  you  stirred.  You  may  not 
know  it  but  yours  was  the  only  voice  that  car- 
ried to  every  part  of  the  huge  audience.  I  do 
appreciate  what  all  the  others  have  done 
towards  making  the  pageant  the  success  it  is. 
However,  I  can  not  change  my  opinion  that 


MARIA  SANFORD  293 

your  oration  aroused  a  tremendous  patriotic 
thrill — and  it  is  the  one  thing  that  is  taking  me 
again  to  the  Art  Institute  tonight." 

During  the  summer  Miss  Sanford  continued 
work  she  had  begun  for  a  Minnesota  unit  which 
was  to  be  sent  to  France.  As  a  part  of  her  con- 
tribution one  Minneapolis  woman,  a  graduate 
of  the  University,  sent  her  a  check  for  several 
hundred  dollars,  and  a  letter  as  follows :  "This 
is  sent  unsolicited  as  I  want  every  dollar  to 
enter  active  service  as  a  volunteer,  not  as  a 
draftee.  You  may  wonder  why  the  check  is 
being  sent  to  yourself.  In  the  first  place  it 
probably  would  not  have  been  given  except  for 
hearing  you  talk  last  week.  This  being  true, 
you  have  really  earned  the  money  and  should 
count  it  on  your  list  of  funds  raised.  Again, 
I  want  to  take  advantage  of  this  opportunity 
to  express  personal  appreciation  of  your  own 
fine,  sturdy  qualities  of  spirit  and  leadership. 
You  never  can  be  made  to  realize  what  you 
mean  to  the  rest  of  us  as  an  example  of  initia- 
tive and  a  spirit  that  always  recognizes  the 
finest  in  things  and  people,  fearlessly  and 
keenly  following  what  you  perceive  to  be  the 
right,  but  tolerant  to  all." 

Shortly  afterward  Miss  Sanford  received  a 
smaller  check  for  the  same  purpose,  and  a  note 


294  MAEIA  SANFOKD 

which  said:  "It  is  with  pleasure  that  acting 
under  the  instruction  of  those  behind  your 
meeting  at  Stillwater  on  Sunday  I  send  you  the 
entire  proceeds  of  the  collection.  You  are  to 
use  this  for  the  college  work  as  you  deem  best. 
We  would  be  glad  if  you  wish  to  have  it  applied 
as  a  part  of  your  contribution  to  the  fund." 

In  this  patriotic  war  work  Miss  Sanford  did 
not  forget  the  children,  and  the  same  week  that 
she  received  the  checks  above  mentioned  she 
received  also  a  letter  from  one  of  the  third 
grade  children  at  the  Maria  Sanford  School. 
The  little  girl  wrote :  "I  earned  one  of  the  thrift 
stamps  that  you  left.  I  got  the  thrift  stamp 
because  I  earned  the  most  money  of  any  child 
in  the  school.  The  way  I  earned  the  money  was 
by  washing  dishes  for  my  mother.  For  that  I 
received  twenty-five  cents  a  week.  My  father 
gave  me  twenty-five  cents  a  week  for  shelling 
beans.  I  get  two  thrift  stamps  each  week.  I 
thank  you  very  much  for  the  thrift  stamps  that 
you  left." 

Miss  Sanford  wrote  a  typical  letter  to  the 
little  girl,  telling  her  that  she  was  much  pleased 
to  get  her  letter  and  was  delighted  that  she  had 
been  so  persevering  in  her  work;  and  assured 
her  that  the  habit  she  had  formed  of  working 
faithfully  was  even  more  valuable  than  the 


MAEIA  SANFORD  295 

stamps.  She  closed  by  saying,  "I  shall  be 
proud  to  meet  you  when  I  visit  the  school 
again."  Any  one  who  ever  knew  the  Maria 
Sanf  ord  School  children  can  imagine  how  proud 
the  child  was  to  receive  that  letter. 

While  working  for  the  Minnesota  Unit  Miss 
Sanford  was  notified  by  the  State  President 
of  the  Minnesota  Women's  Suffrage  Associa- 
tion that  she  had  been  appointed  a  member  of 
a  ratification  committee  to  serve  in  what  the 
association  believed  would  be  the  final  drive  in 
the  enfranchisement  of  the  women  of  the 
United  States.  The  President  of  the  United 
States  had  been  advocating  the  federal  suffrage 
amendment  as  a  war  measure,  and  with  his  ac- 
tive cooperation  the  National  Committee  be- 
lieved that  success  was  assured  in  the  near  fu- 
ture. Miss  Sanford  hoped  to  live  to  see  suffrage 
granted  to  women,  but  that  was  not  to  be. 

A  new  tribute  was  paid  to  her  this  year  by 
the  dedication  to  her  of  a  new  patriotic  song  en- 
titled Loyal  Minnesota.  The  proceeds  of  the 
song  were  to  go  to  war  relief  work.  The  song 
was  dedicated  to  "Professor  Sanford,  Minne- 
sota 's  Grand  Old  Lady — who  never  grows  old. ' ' 

Miss  Sanf  ord 's  optimism  and  her  desire  to 
help  others  involved  her  several  times  late  in 
life  in  further  financial  difficulties  at  the  same 


296  MAEIA  SANFORD 

time  that  she  was  straining  every  nerve  to  lift 
her  heaviest  burden.  According  to  the  Puritan 
tradition  she  felt  herself  charged  with  the  well 
being  of  all  the  members  of  her  family  and  she 
tried  to  provide  for  their  welfare  when  she 
should  be  taken  from  them.  In  this  attempt 
she  spent  money  for  stock  in  a  rubber  planta- 
tion in  Mexico,  in  a  marble  quarry  in  Colorado, 
and  in  copper  mining  in  Montana.  None  of 
these  ever  gave  her  any  returns.  A  few  people 
who  knew  of  her  investments  blamed  her  for 
wasting  money ;  but  one  judge  of  large  experi- 
ence said  that  among  all  his  acquaintances  he 
knew  of  no  one  who  had  not  succumbed  to  a 
similar  temptation.  The  bankers  who  took  care 
of  Miss  Sanford's  affairs  for  many  years  gave 
similar  testimony. 

When  she  at  last  gave  up  hope  of  securing 
money  in  that  way,  she  took  part  in  a  land 
drawing  contest  at  the  Fort  Peck  Indian  Res- 
ervation in  Montana,  and  was  awarded  a  claim, 
but  felt  that  she  was  too  old  then  to  become  a 
farmer.  A  former  student  of  Miss  Sanf ord  's  in 
Montana  wrote  to  her  that  the  number  she  had 
drawn  would  entitle  her  to  a  homestead.  He 
said  that  if  she  would  go  to  Montana  he  would 
select  the  very  best  piece  of  land  on  the  Reser- 
vation that  her  number  would  entitle  her  to, 


MARIA  SANFOBD  297 

and  would  take  her  to  examine  her  claim.  He 
assured  her  that  all  of  the  Montana  people 
would  endeavor  to  make  her  stay  among  them 
not  only  pleasant  but  profitable.  So  gi  eat  was 
her  vigor  even  now  that  these  business  men  did 
not  think  of  her  as  too  old  or  too  feeble  to  un- 
dertake the  life  of  a  pioneer  farmer. 

As  the  state  of  her  health  permitted  she  con- 
tinued to  travel  long  distances  in  the  interest 
of  any  cause  for  which  her  help  was  wanted. 
She  went  to  New  York  City,  sent  by  the  Gover- 
nor of  Minnesota  to  the  first  national  conference 
on  unemployment.  The  delegation  of  several 
hundred  men  and  women  met  in  the  City  Hall 
and  was  welcomed  by  the  Mayor.  Professor 
Sanford  was  prominent  among  the  labor  lead- 
ers, state  labor  officials,  settlement  workers, 
factory  inspectors  and  heads  of  charity  organ- 
izations. At  this  conference  she  made  a  telling 
speech  at  the  morning  session.  The  value  of 
her  work  here  caused  the  Governor  to  appoint 
her  the  following  month  as  a  delegate  to  the 
tenth  annual  conference  of  the  National  Child 
Labor  Committee  in  New  Orleans.  So  much 
interest  did  she  manifest  in  the  work  of  the 
Child  Welfare  League  of  Minnesota,  especially 
in  the  work  for  the  feeble  minded,  that  at  the 
meeting  of  the  State  Conference  of  Charities 


298  MARIA  SANFORD 

and  Corrections  in  1919  she  was  made  honorary 
president  of  the  association. 

The  girls  of  the  new  Vocational  School  asked 
Miss  Sanford  to  give  the  first  commencement 
address.  Four  years  later  the  principal  de- 
clared that  it  was  the  best  address  that  had 
ever  been  given  to  the  school.  Miss  Sanford 
was  so  much  interested  in  this  new  school  that 
she  asked  the  class  to  write  to  her  about  them- 
selves, their  work,  their  hopes  and  their 
troubles.  Many  of  them,  after  returning  to 
their  homes  in  various  parts  of  the  state,  did 
as  she  had  asked,  and  so  pleased  her  that  she 
kept  their  letters  and  wrote  to  them  once  a 
month.  As  always  she  met  them  upon  their 
own  ground.  In  one  letter  she  said:  "If  you 
are  at  work  I  wish  you  would  tell  me  in  your 
next  letter  how  much  you  have  earned  in  the 
month  past  and  how  much  you  have  been  able 
to  save  either  to  pay  money  lent  you  for  your 
education  or  to  put  in  the  bank.  I  shall  be  very 
glad  when  each  of  you  has  a  bank  account  and 
saves  a  little  each  week  to  add  to  it.  I  don't 
want  you  to  lay  up  the  money  which  you  ought 
to  give  to  your  mother  but  I  want  you  to  save 
the  money  which  other  girls  spend  for  candy 
and  ice  cream  and  to  go  to  the  movies.  Save 
this  money  carefully  and  by  and  by  you  will  be 


MAEIA  SANFORD  299 

pleased  and  proud  to  see  how  much  you  have 
laid  up." 

Another  of  Miss  Sanford's  activities  this 
year  was  a  four  weeks'  service  as  speaker  for 
the  Citizens '  League  of  Hennepin  County.  The 
chairman  of  the  executive  committee  had  writ- 
ten to  ask  her,  because  of  her  thorough  devo- 
tion to  the  cause  of  temperance  and  her  inter- 
est in  working  men,  to  assist  the  League  in  the 
campaign  for  prohibition.  Although  it  was 
some  years  before  the  dry  law  was  passed  Miss 
Sanford  was  felt  to  have  done  great  service  in 
the  cause.  She  was  more  at  home  this  year 
than  she  had  been  for  some  time,  yet  her  attach- 
ment to  her  home  surroundings  was  cften  ex- 
pressed. Writing  to  her  niece  who  was  away 
for  a  few  days  she  said  regarding  her  work  in 
the  temperance  cause:  "I  enjoy  the  work  and 
do  not  get  very  tired  but  it  does  seem  lonesome 
to  eat  alone  every  day.  I  have  had  three  invita- 
tions to  lunch  this  week  and  I  am  going  down 
to  take  breakfast  with  a  neighbor  this  morning. 
She  is  to  be  all  alone.  I  hope  ...  I  shall 
get  another  letter  from  you  today.  It  makes 
you  seem  near  and  I  love  to  get  even  a  hasty 
line  such  as  I  am  sending  you." 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Minnesota  Educational 
Association  in  Minneapolis  this  year  Miss  San- 


300  MAKIA  SANFOED 

ford  was  asked  to  be  one  of  the  speakers.  She 
received  the  most  spirited  recognition  ever 
awarded  a  public  speaker  by  this  association. 
The  crowd  stood  cheering,  waving  handker- 
chiefs and  making  demonstrations  which  took 
on  the  air  of  an  ovation  to  a  great  political 
leader,  and  lasted  for  some  time  after  she 
reached  the  platform.  At  this  meeting  she  was 
nominated  for  the  presidency  of  the  association, 
but  declined  because  she  was  too  busy  and  exr 
pected  to  be  out  of  the  state  much  of  the  time 
until  the  following  May.  She  thanked  her 
friends  for  the  courtesy  but  asked  them  not  to 
vote  for  her.  She  was  made  instead  an  honor- 
ary member  of  the  association. 


CHAPTER  X 
THE   FAREWELL 

The  year  1919  was  marked  by  perhaps  a 
greater  variety  of  talks  than  Miss  Sanf  ord  had 
been  called  upon  before  to  give.  One  Sunday 
she  spoke  at  St.  Mark's,  the  largest  Episcopal 
church  in  the  city,  to  an  audience  of  twelve  hun- 
dred at  a  memorial  service  for  British  war 
heroes;  and  for  several  Sundays  during  the 
illness  of  its  minister  she  preached  in  the  Con- 
gregational church  of  which  she  was  a  trustee. 
She  received  the  thanks  of  the  secretary  for 
speaking  to  the  women  of  the  Minneapolis  Steel 
and  Machinery  Company;  and  she  was  asked 
by  a  Minneapolis  High  School  teacher  of  his- 
tory and  commercial  law  to  read  to  his  Ameri- 
can history  classes  on  the  abolition  movement. 

Easter  services  in  Minneapolis  in  1919  were 
observed,  not  only  in  the  churches  but  on  the 
military  field;  and  undenominational  services 
were  held  at  Farview  Park  in  North  Minneap- 
olis. At  this  park,  which  adjoins  the  Maria 
301 


302  MARIA  SANFORD 

Sanford  School,  Professor  Sanford  was  asked 
to  speak.  With  her  head  bared  and  her  face 
lifted  to  the  large  audience  standing  above  her 
on  the  natural  amphitheater  of  the  hillside,  Misd 
Sanford  with  a  clear  and  exultant  voice  gave 
her  Easter  message  like  a  seer  of  old.  The  clos- 
ing paragraph  was  heartfelt : 

"Now  our  boys  are  coming  home  triumphant 
and  we  are  rejoicing  that  the  land  is  free,  but 
there  is  another  freedom  for  which  Christ  gave 
his  efforts,  the  freedom  of  the  spirit,  the  spirit 
of  God.  Today  we  are  remembering  that  peace 
and  right  and  justice  are  His  attributes.  I  feel 
we  shall  obey  His  inspirations  and  make  our 
land  really  free.  On  this  glorious  Easter  morn- 
ing shall  we  not,  one  and  all,  come  and  hold 
open  the  windows  of  our  souls  to  the  light  of 
the  Sun  of  Righteousness?  Shall  we  not  con- 
secrate ourselves  to  that  light  of  God  which 
shall  go  on  brighter  and  brighter?  Let  us  live 
the  life  of  His  children,  the  life  of  Christ  the 
risen  Lord,  whom  we  today  honor." 

As  the  season  drew  toward  summer,  Miss 
Sanford  was  in  frequent  request  for  baccalaure- 
ate addresses,  although  she  did  not  travel  long 
distances  from  the  state.  A  passage  from  a 
letter  to  her  niece  in  Smyrna  indicates  the  ful- 
ness of  her  days :  "I  am  home  from  the  bacca- 


MARIA  SANFOKD  303 

laureate  service  where  I  gave  the  sermon  this 
morning,  and  for  the  first  time  in  weeks  I  have 
at  least  twenty-four  hours  when  I  have  no 
speech  to  prepare.  Tomorrow  night  there  is  to 
be  a  grand  rally  on  the  steps  of  the  capitol  in 
St.  Paul  in  honor  of  the  passing  of  the  suffrage 
bill  by  Congress.  At  this  time  I  am  expected 
to  speak,  but  my  part  will  be  a  few  words 
only."  Her  sense  of  humor  was  gratified  on 
one  of  these  occasions  by  a  remark  sent  her 
from  a  young  girl's  letter  to  a  friend  in  which 
she  said,  "I  hope  to  see  Jeannette  tomorrow  at 
the  bacchanalian  sermon  which  Maria  Sanford 
is  going  to  preach. " 

Her  homely  common  sense  was  as  marked  as 
in  her  younger  days.  A  high  school  principal 
in  a  letter  of  appreciation  for  a  lecture  she  had 
given  before  his  school  wrote  that  the  senior 
class  at  a  meeting  held  the  afternoon  after  her 
address  for  the  purpose  of  choosing  a  class 
motto,  had  ended  a  long  and  arduous  argument 
by  unanimously  adopting  a  striking  sentence 
from  her  morning  address:  "Keep  your  back- 
bone straight  and  your  head  on  top  of  it. ' ' 

At  the  opening  of  the  University  summer 
school  an  unusual  experience  proved  that  she 
did  not  falter  even  when  a  request  came  for 
that  which  was  hardest  for  her  to  give.  A 


304  MARIA  SANFORD 

strange  young  woman  went  to  her  house  on  the 
morning  when  the  summer  school  opened.  Miss 
Sanford 's  house  was  a  mile  from  the  Univer- 
sity, and  the  young  woman  appeared  at  half- 
past  eleven  to  ask  Miss  Sanford  to  lend  her 
twenty-five  dollars  with  which  to  register  before 
twelve  o'clock.  The  young  woman  was  a 
stranger  in  town  and  had  come  to  the  city  with- 
out money  for  her  fees.  There  was  only  half  an 
hour  before  registration  closed.  Miss  Sanford, 
when  she  told  the  story,  said  that  although  .it 
was  very  unusual  for  her  to  have  so  much  money 
in  the  house  she  happened  to  have  that  amount 
and  gave  it  to  the  girl  without  knowing  whether 
she  should  ever  see  or  hear  from  her  again.  She 
was  rather  annoyed ;  but  she  felt  that  she  could 
not  allow  anyone  to  say  that  Miss  Sanford  did 
not  practice  what  she  preached — kindness. 

At  Christmas  time  this  year  Miss  Sanford 
was  far  from  well.  She  told  a  friend  that  she 
was  having  the  "horrors";  cold  sweats  and  an 
agony  of  mind  not  to  be  described,  but  so  much 
worse  than  physical  pain  that  she  was  in  terror 
at  the  thought  of  a  recurrence  of  the  attacks. 
She  became  very  much  interested  in  her 
friend 's  explanation  of  the  new  psychology  and 
her  assurance  that  the  "horrors"  could  be 
overcome.  She  began  at  once  to  study  the  sub- 


MARIA  SANFOBD  305 

ject,  resolutely  putting  her  troubles  behind  her ; 
shortly  again  she  was  lecturing. 

In  the  spring  of  1919  she  had  been  invited 
by  the  St.  Anthony  Falls  Chapter  of  the  D.  A.  B. 
to  become  a  member  of  that  chapter,  and  had 
accepted  the  invitation.  Before  the  election  in 
the  fall,  however,  it  was  found  that  she  was  a 
"real  grand-daughter  of  the  Revolution";  and 
so  she  was  asked  instead  to  become  an  honor- 
ary member  of  every  chapter  in  the  state.  She 
was  accepted  October  18,  1919,  by  the  board  of 
management  of  the  National  Society  of  the 
Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution.  At  the 
state  midwinter  conference  in  February  she 
gave  an  apostrophe  to  the  flag.  Once  before 
she  had  given  an  impromptu  address  of  a  sim- 
ilar kind.  The  spirit  of  these  addresses  had  so 
impressed  her  hearers  that  she  was  once  again 
asked  to  speak  on  the  same  subject.  This  time 
the  speech,  expanded  into  a  powerful  address, 
became  famous  as  her  true  valedictory.  Deliv- 
ered at  the  heart  of  the  nation,  on  the  subject 
which  had  always  been  with  her  a  passion,  it 
formed  a  fitting  and  beautiful  close  to  her  long 
and  fruitful  life.  Early  in  the  spring  of  1920 
the  Minnesota  State  Regent  of  the  D.  A.  R. 
asked  Miss  Sanford  as  the  guest  of  the  state 
chapters  to  attend  the  national  convention  in 
20 


306  MARIA  SANFOKD 

F 

Washington  to  be  held  in  April,  her  expenses 
to  be  paid  by  all  the  chapters.  One  chapter 
gave  an  additional  sum  for  their  honored  guest 
to  use  for  what  would  give  her  most  pleasure. 
The  proprietor  of  a  large  hat  shop,  herself  a 
stranger  to  Miss  Sanford,  asked  the  honor  of 
making  her  a  new  bonnet  for  the  occasion.  Cau- 
tioned not  to  make  it  too  modern  to  be  appropri- 
ate to  Miss  Sanford 's  distinctive  style  of  dress- 
ing, she  produced  a  beautiful  creation  worth  on 
sale  thirty  dollars,  but  so  modest  appearing  and 
so  perfectly  suited  to  the  wearer  that  Miss  San- 
ford, as  she  exhibited  it  with  delight  to  friends 
constantly  surrounding  her  during  the  journey, 
told  them  it  must  have  cost  as  much  as  ten  dol- 
lars. The  bonnet  now  reposes  among  other 
objects  of  historic  interest  in  the  old  Sibley 
House,  at  Mendota,  Minnesota. 

Miss  Sanford,  at  the  request  of  the  President- 
General,  was  to  give  her  apostrophe  to  the  flag 
at  the  opening  session  of  the  convention,  April 
19.  In.  order  to  save  her  strength  one  woman 
was  assigned  to  guard  and  watch  over  her 
throughout  the  journey.  The  special  train  was 
filled  with  former  students  who  could  not  re- 
sist the  temptation  to  visit  with  their  beloved 
professor,  and  to  shower  her  with  fruit,  candy, 
and  flowers.  Though  she  appeared  feeble  she 


MAEIA  SANFOBD  307 

showed  that  she  thoroughly  enjoyed  every  min- 
ute of  the  trip. 

On  reaching  Washington  she  was  accompa- 
nied to  the  home  of  Senator  Knute  Nelson  of 
Minnesota,  where  she  had  always  been  wel- 
comed on  her  visits  to  that  city,  and  where  she 
rested  quietly  until  the  opening  session  of  the 
convention.  On  Monday  morning  she  was  ac- 
companied to  the  convention  hall  and  allowed 
to  rest  quietly  until  the  time  of  her  address. 
The  prettiest  girl  among  the  ushers,  a  dark 
southern  beauty,  was  chosen  to  hold  the  great 
silk  convention  flag  as  the  aged  orator  ad- 
dressed it.  When  the  hundreds  to  whom  she 
was  a  stranger  saw  a  little,  frail  old  lady  come 
forward  to  the  speaking  stand  they  resigned 
themselves  with  hearts  of  compassion,  expect- 
ing to  hear  not  a  word  of  the  address.  As  the 
first  words  rang  upon  their  ears  the  great  audi- 
ence was  hushed  to  attention.  Not  a  syllable 
was  lost.  At  the  close  of  the  inspired  address 
women  through  a  mist  of  tears  cheered  and 
cheered.  One  reporter  said  never  in  years  of 
reporting  had  she  known  so  long  a  period  of 
uninterrupted  applause.  Miss  Sanford  received 
an  ovation  such  as  was  given  to  no  one  else 
during  the  convention. 

At  noon  Miss  Sanford  left  the  hall  and  re- 


308  MARIA  SANFORD 

turned  to  Senator  Nelson's.  The  next  morning 
she  went  again  to  the  convention  and  stayed 
an  hour.  The  Minnesota  delegates  that  day  ar- 
ranged for  a  luncheon  in  her  honor  at  the  New 
Willard.  This  celebration  she  enjoyed  very 
much;  although,  as  before,  she  ate  very  little. 
After  the  luncheon  she  shook  hands  with  every- 
one. She  showed  that  she  was  tired  but  said 
that  she  had  enjoyed  every  minute.  As  she  left 
the  hotel  she  spoke  to  the  friend  who  had  spe- 
cial charge  of  her,  saying  she  knew  that  she 
had  been  tended  very  carefully  but  that  she 
hadn't  been  conscious  of  it.  She  appreciated 
the  thoughtfulness,  and  as  she  departed  she 
kissed  her  friend  on  both  cheeks. 

She  left  the  delegates  at  two  o'clock;  that 
was  the  last  time  they  saw  her.  Her  friend  tel- 
ephoned in  the  evening  |o  know  if  she  was  com- 
fortable, and  learned  that  she  was  enjoying  a 
visit  from  a  former  negro  student.  On  leaving 
her  hostess  for  the  night  she  remarked  "I  bid 
you  good-night  on  the  happiest  day  of  my  eighty- 
three  years. ' '  She  was  planning  to  leave  Wash- 
ington the  next  morning  for  her  brother's  home 
near  Philadelphia,  and  to  go  from  there  to  New 
York  where  a  phonograph  record  was  to  be 
made  of  her  Apostrophe  to  the  Flag;  but  the 


MARIA  SANFOBD  309 

next  morning,  April  21,  they  found  only  her 
body  lying  smiling  peacefully  in  her  bed. 

As  it  was  Miss  Sanford's  expressed  wish 
that  she  might  be  buried  wherever  she  happened 
to  die,  there  was  no  thought  of  a  return  to  Min- 
neapolis. The  remains  were  taken  to  her  broth- 
er 's  home  and  buried  in  the  family  lot  in  Mount 
Vernon  Cemetery  in  Philadelphia.  The  funeral 
ceremony,  in  accordance  with  Miss  Sanford's 
wishes,  was  of  the  simplest  sort. 

Some  friends  who  did  not  understand  Miss 
Sanford  very  well  felt  that  she  should  not  have 
been  subjected  in  her  feeble  state  of  health  to 
such  a  long  journey  and  so  much  excitement; 
but  people  who  were  nearest  to  her  knew  that 
to  her  life  was  action,  and  that  she  wished  to 
go  on  to  the  end.  In  fact,  although  feeble  on 
the  journey,  she  felt  so  well  in  spirit  that  she 
told  the  friend  who  was  caring  for  her  that  she 
would  love  to  go  to- her  summer  home  in  the 
woods  of  Northern  Minnesota.  Believing  that 
she  would  go  that  summer,  she  asked  how  to 
get  there. 

At  the  time  of  the  funeral  in  Philadelphia  on 
the  twenty-fourth  of  April  a  tribute  was  paid 
at  the  University  of  Minnesota  by  the  students 
and  the  faculty,  who  united  in  five  minutes  of 
silent  prayer.  The  faculty  of  the  college  of  Sci- 


310  MARIA  SANFOBD 

ence,  Literature  and  the  Arts  printed  a  tribute 
of  appreciation  of  her  work  and  influence.  They 
recommended  that  a  scholarship  in  literature 
be  established  in  her  honor  and  that  every  grad- 
uate of  the  University  be  allowed  to  participate 
in  this  tribute  to  her  memory.  President  Bur- 
ton of  the  University  of  Minnesota  in  his  tribute 
the  day  after  her  death  closed  with  this  beau- 
tiful thought:  "In  reality  she  symbolizes  the 
'death  of  death/  As  with  all  truly  great  per- 
sons the  path  of  death  has  been  the  path  of 
life." 

One  writer  remarking  that  it  was  wholly  in- 
keeping  with  her  noble  spirit  that  her  last  pub- 
lic utterance  should  have  been  an  apostrophe 
to  the  flag,  called  her 

A  grand,  sane,  towering,  seated  mother, 
Chair 'd  in  the  adamant  of  time. 

Another  who  felt  most  deeply  concerning  her 
years  of  struggle  suggested  that  "The  best  me- 
morial Minnesota  could  devise  for  Maria  San- 
ford  would  be  ample  provision  for  a  teacher's 
wage  that  would  insure  those  who  follow  her 
footsteps  against  the  privations  she  so  bravely 
bore  in  pursuit  of  her  calling." 

One  editorial  beautifully  summarized  her 
character:  "Miss  Sanford's  distinction  was 
that  she  did  ordinary  things  in  an  ordinary  way 


MARIA  SANFORD  311 

but  with  an  individuality  of  enthusiasm,  of  sin- 
cerity and  self-expression  that  swept  all  before 
it.  She  was  eccentric  only  in  the  neglect  to  do 
for  herself  what  others  do  for  themselves. 
Dress  to  her  was  to  cover  nakedness,  food  was 
to  sustain  life,  business  activities  were  to  ad- 
vance the  cause  of  well  doing,  not  to  exploit 
personalities.  Work  was  not  for  pay,  but  for 
accomplishment  .  .  .  She  will  be  missed 
the  more  because  she  died  in  an  era  against  the 
tendencies  of  which  her  personality  shone  as  a 
star  in  blackest  night." 

The  Minneapolis  Teachers'  League  in  their 
memorial  wrote:  "In  her  was  the  sense  of 
beauty  of  the  Greek,  the  love  of  law  and  order 
of  the  Roman,  the  integrity  and  fervor  of  the 
Puritan,  the  religious  aspiration  and  devotion 
of  a  Christian,  whose  virtues  she  exemplified." 
In  the  same  number  of  the  "League  Scrip"  ap- 
peared the  following  poem : 

Friend  she  was,  revealer  of  visions — 

Calm-browed,  star-eyed,  gracious  and  kind, 

Mother-wise,  rugged,  firm  in  decision, 

Freeing,  uplifting,  inspiring  the  mind. 

Power,  unrealized,  throbbed  at  her  pleading; 

Souls  were  attuned  to  ideals  again, 
Brotherhood,  work  of  the  heart  and  the  hand, 

Made  immortal  her  creed  in  the  lives  of  men. 

Emma  Kennedy  Ballentine. 


312  MARIA  SANFOED 

The  National  School  Digest  printed  the  fol- 
lowing tribute  from  Aldena  Carlson,  a  graduate 
of  the  University  in  1915 : 

A  fragile  cup,  lip-worn,  of  priceless  ware, 

Sweetening  with  gracious  service  daily  fare; 

A  band  of  flawless  gold,  thin  worn  with  common  use ; 

A  costly  weft,  of  lustered,  wear  toned  hues; 

A  treasured  book,  in  life-long  labor  wrought, 

Offering  from  open  page  its  store  of  love  and  thought. 

The  editor  of  the  Alumni  "Weekly  later,  in 
commenting  upon  the  numerous  tributes  from 
the  press,  remarked  that  "  ...  One  is 
struck  with  the  prevalence  of  four  recurringly 
descriptive  words:  'dauntless,*  'untiring,' 
'loyal,'  'inspiring.'  Are  they  not  a  character- 
izing host  in  themselves — those  four  words — 
with  the  lamp  of  a  life  of  eighty-three  years  to 
read  them  by?" 

Eesolutions  regarding  Miss  Sanford  were 
sent  from  all  over  the  state,  from  all  kinds  of 
clubs:  mothers'  clubs,  women's  clubs,  hospital 
clubs,  teachers'  clubs,  the  Women's  Christian 
Temperance  Union,  and  a  host  of  others.  Me- 
morials to  Miss  Sanford  began  to  be  heard  of. 
The  newspapers  stated  that  a  copy  of  her  apos- 
trophe to  the  flag  would  be  placed  in  the  Sibley 
House  at  Mendota,  Minnesota.  In  memory  of 


MARIA  SANFORD  313 

her  two  scholarships  for  the  Thomassee  School 
in  South  Carolina  were  provided  by  the  Na- 
tional Society  of  the  D.  A.  K.  The  students  of 
this  school  were  nearly  ail  descendants  of  Rev- 
olutionary heroes. 

A  memorial  service  was  held  in  St.  Mark's 
Episcopal  church  in  Minneapolis,  Sunday,  May 
9,  at  which  more  than  a  thousand  people  were 
present.  The  rector  of  the  church,  Dr.  Free- 
man, and  President  Emeritus  Cyrus  Northrop 
of  the  University  of  Minnesota  were  the  speak- 
ers. The  service  was  arranged  by  the  American 
Overseas  Club  with  the  rector  of  the  church. 
At  this  service  money  was  contributed  for  a 
bronze  memorial  tablet  to  be  placed  in  Shevlin 
Hall  the  woman 's  hall  on  the  University  campus. 

A  memorial  service  was  also  held  in  the  Como 
Avenue  Congregational  church,  of  which  Miss 
Sanford  was  a  member.  The  former  pastor 
gave  the  eulogy  here.  Another  memorial  ser- 
vice was  held  in  a  church  near  the  Maria  San- 
ford  School.  At  this  church  the  eulogy  was 
pronounced  by  Professor  Emeritus  John  Cor- 
rin  Hutchinson,  formerly  head  of  the  Greek 
department  of  the  University  of  Minnesota,  a 
long  time  colleague  and  warm  friend  of  Miss 
Sanford.  The  opening  of  this  address  con- 


314  MAKIA  SANFORD 

tained  one  of  the  finest  tributes:  "I  suppose 
the  work  of  the  teacher  is  twofold,  to  instruct 
and  to  educate.  To  instruct  is  a  comparatively 
simple  matter.  Granted  the  adequate  informa- 
tion on  any  subject  and  a  reasonable  modicum 
of  common  sense  almost  anyone  can  perform 
that  function.  To  educate  is  a  vastly  different 
matter.  One  may  instruct  standing  on  the 
threshold;  to  educate  one  must  enter  into  the 
Holy  of  Holies  of  personality  and  only  the  High 
Priest  can  safely  and  efficiently  enter  there. 
The  Instructor  deals  with  means  and  as  an  in- 
structor looks  no  further.  The  Educator  con- 
siders ends  and  these  ends  functions  of  person- 
ality. The  Instructor  as  such  is  interested 
mainly  in  his  subject ;  the  interest  of  the  Edu- 
cator lies  primarily  in  the  persons  with  whom 
he  is  concerned  and  whose  harmonious  develop- 
ment in  all  distinctly  human  attributes  is  the 
object  of  his  endeavor.  This  calls  for  a  true 
philosophy  of  life — a  just  estimate  of  human 
values,  a  balanced  ideal  of  the  complex  person- 
ality; its  emotions,  its  judgments  and  its  voli- 
tions. It  calls  for  an  understanding  of  the 
paradox  of  the  Great  Teacher,  'He  that  saveth 
his  life  shall  lose  it,  and  he  that  loseth  his  life 
for  my  sake  shall  find  it.' 
"Dealing  with  all  kinds  of  dispositions  and 


MAEIA  SANFORD  315 

tastes  and  abilities,  the  successful  educator  must 
be  possessed  of  an  unfaltering  faith  in  the  edu- 
cability  of  every  normal  person  who  comes  to 
his  hand;  that  is,  he  must  believe  in  the  essen- 
tial value  of  the  soul  as  such,  to  slightly  alter 
Wordsworth 's  words,  he  must  look  upon  the 
soul  of  man  with  awe.  He  must  have  a  confi- 
dence that  cannot  be  shaken  in  the  power  of 
goodness  and  truth  and  beauty  to  charm  the 
human  spirit  and  win  its  adherence ;  and  it  will 
be  his  most  strenuous  task  to  bring  those  for 
whom  he  labors  under  the  spell  of  a  worthy, 
nay,  rather  let  me  say  of  the  worthiest  ideal  of 
thought  and  conduct,  that  is,  of  life. 

"It  goes  without  saying  that  such  ideal  must 
be  before  his  own  spirit  clear  as  the  artist's 
vision,  as  clear  and  as  compelling;  begetting 
in  him  an  enthusiasm  and  devotion  that  no  in- 
tractability of  material  can  quench,  no  delay  in 
execution  diminish,  no  imperfection  of  realiza- 
tion destroy. 

"Clear  as  the  artist's  vision,  yes,  and  as  the 
prophet's  vision,  too — the  one  with  its  promise 
of  beauty,  the  other  with  its  promise  of  right- 
eousness. Manifestly  such  enthusiasm  and  such 
devotion  imply  a  sensitive  sympathy  which 
beareth  all  things,  believeth  all  things,  hopeth 
all  things,  endureth  all  things;  no  less  than  a 


316  MARIA  SANFOKD 

sternness  of  love  which  can  in  due  season  re- 
buke and  chasten;  but  towards  all  a  patient 
and  persistent  ministry  of  unselfish  service. 

"Have  I  made  the  character  clear?  It  must 
be  plain  to  you  that  I  have  been  mentioning 
some  of  those  qualities  which  were  finely  illus- 
trated in  her  whose  memory  we  honor  on  this 
occasion.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  she  per- 
fectly attained  the  ideal — not  perfect,  nay,  but 
full  of  tender  wants — who  looked  all  native  to 
her  place  and  yet — On  tiptoe  seemed  to  touch 
upon  a  sphere  too  gross  to  tread.  Her  ideals 
of  life  were  so  noble  and  so  clearly  revealed 
by  precept  and  example  that  multitudes  caught 
her  vision  and  are  today  endeavoring  to  trans- 
late it  into  reality. ' ' 

At  the  University  of  Minnesota  a  tribute  was 
paid  on  the  last  convocation  of  the  school  year 
by  the  entire  student  body.  President  Emeri- 
tus Folwell,  who  was  president  of  the  Univer- 
sity when  Miss  Sanford  came  to  Minnesota, 
President  Emeritus  Cyrus  Northrop  and  Presi- 
dent Marion  Le  Roy  Burton,  with  President- 
elect Lotus  D.  Coffman,  all  participated  in  this 
tribute.  President  Burton  presiding  announced 
that  the  Alumni  planned  a  memorial  through 
the  establishment  of  an  extensive  course  of 
scholarships.  Miss  Sanford 's  favorite  hymns, 


MARIA  SANFORD  317 

Jesus,  Lover  of  My  Soul  and  Hark,  Hark  My 
Soul,  were  sung  by  the  students.  Prayer  was 
offered  by  Professor  Hutchinson  and  the  ad- 
dress was  made  by  President  Emeritus  Cyrus 
Northrop. 

President  Northrop  took  for  his  text  a  part 
of  the  last  chapter  of  Proverbs  which  describes 
the  ideal  woman.  The  two  verses  quoted  as  an 
introduction  he  had  used  in  his  letter  of  con- 
gratulation on  her  eightieth  birthday:  "She 
openeth  her  mouth  with  wisdom;  and  in  her 
tongue  is  the  law  of  kindness.  Give  her  of  the 
fruit  of  her  hands ;  and  let  her  own  works  praise 
her  in  the  gates." 

He  called  Miss  Sanford  a  Puritan  without 
any  of  the  bigotry  or  narrowness  of  Puritans; 
and  he  closed  his  eulogy  by  saying:  "Useful 
as  her  life  before  retirement  was,  the  last  eleven 
years  were  more  glorious  than  anything  in  her 
previous  career.  When  the  war  came  she 
pleaded  for  Red  Cross  hospitals,  Christian 
Associations,  temperance,  government  loans, 
suffrage,  improvement  leagues,  Hooverized 
self-denial,  national  patriotism  and  confidence. 
'He  hath  borne  our  griefs  and  carried  our  sor- 
rows, '  was  said  of  the  Divine  Man,  and  it  may 
in  some  measure  be  said  of  Miss  Sanford,  for 
she  carried  in  her  heart  the  sorrows  of  univer- 


318  MARIA  SANFORD 

sal  humanity.  ...  In  the  morning  when 
they  went  to  her  room  to  call  her  they  found 
that  someone  had  been  there  before.  The  Angel 
of  Death  had  visited  her  in  the  silence  of  the 
night  and  claimed  her.  .  .  .  Apparently 
she  lay  there  with  placid  figure,  but  in  reality 
it  was  only  her  deserted  tenement.  She  was  not 
there,  for  God  had  taken  her.  We  shall  miss 
her — never  again  shall  we  hear  her  eloquent 
voice — never — never — never !  The  last  echo  to 
reach  us  is  her  splendid  apostrophe  to  the  flag 
— almost  an  echo  from  the  spirit  world." 

A  neighborhood  paper  published  in  Miss  San- 
ford 's  home  district  contained  tributes  from 
neighbors,  both  men  and  women,  and  the  school 
children  of  the  district ;  among  them  was  a  poem 
written  by  a  former  student,  the  wife  of  a  pro- 
fessor in  the  University. 

IN  MEMORY  OF  MARIA  L.  SANFORD 

Silent,  forever  silent,  now  that  voice 

That  like  rich  organ  tones  so  often  thrilled; 

Quiet,  forever  quiet,  now  those  hands, 

So  long  with  deeds  of  love  and  service  filled. 

Long  years  ago  she  prayed  that  in  her  age 

Life  would  with  autumn  glory  touch  her  soul, 

That  the  bright-colored  leaves  might  symbols  be 
Of  her  own  spirit,  resolute  and  whole. 


MARIA  SANFORD  319 

Faith  its  own  answer  wrought — for  hearts  like  hers 
The  passing  years  can  bring  no  winter  chill, 

But  only  ripened  wisdom,  golden  hoards 

Where  lesser  men  may  free  their  coffers  fill. 

Sturdy  as  her  New  England  hills  she  stood, 

Nor  sought  the  path  that  knows  not  toil  and  pain; 

Fullness  of  life  she  craved  that  from  that  fount 
She  might  a  richer  sympathy  attain. 

Thrice  blessed  those  whose  privilege  it  was 
To  call  her  teacher  in  that  former  time, 

But  happy  all  who  from  her  lips  have  learned 

The  dignity  of  toil,  her  simple  creed  sublime. 

Lillian  Marvin  Swenson. 

In  memory  of  Miss  Sanford  a  girls'  literary 
club  at  the  Crookston,  Minnesota,  agricultural 
station  is  named  the  Maria  Sanford  Club.  The 
young  women  students  of  the  University  of  Min- 
nesota formed  a  Maria  Sanford  Republican 
Club  which  was  the  pioneer  middle  western 
Republican  organization  among  college  women. 
The  Como  Avenue  Congregational  church  has 
now  a  woman 's  club  named  after  her. 

The  Women's  Shakespeare  Club  of  Minneap- 
olis in  June,  1921,  presented  a  beautiful  photo- 
graph of  Miss  Sanford  to  the  Minnesota  His- 
torical Society,  and  held  appropriate  exercises 
on  the  occasion  of  the  presentation.  A  devoted 
friend  of  Miss  Sanford  also  presented  to  the 


320  MARIA  SANFORD 

Maria  Sanford  School  a  beautiful  photograph 
to  be  hung  in  the  school  so  that  the  little  chil- 
dren who  never  had  the  privilege  of  seeing  her 
might  have  an  idea  of  her  in  their  minds.  This 
photograph  is  the  one  that  her  University  col- 
leagues always  considered  the  best  picture  of 
her  ever  taken. 

The  Minnesota  D.  A.  R.  has  planned  a  ten 
thousand  dollar  memorial,  the  nature  of  which 
has  not  yet  been  decided.  The  greatest  me- 
morial of  all,  however,  and  the  one  which  would 
please  her  best,  is  the  quickened  and  ennobled 
lives  of  the  thousands  who  called  her  blessed. 

The  apostrophe  to  the  flag,  beautifully  illum- 
inated by  a  Minneapolis  artist,  a  former  stu- 
dent of  Miss  Sanford  's,  was  given  by  the  Min- 
nesota State  Regent  to  be  placed  in  the  Me- 
morial Continental  Hall,  Washington,  the  place 
in  which  the  address  was  originally  given. 


Hail,  thou  flag  of  our  fathers,  flag  of  the 
free !  With  pride  and  loyalty  and  love  we  greet 
thee,  and  promise  to  cherish  thee  forever.  How 
wonderful  has  been  thy  onward  progress  of 
conquest  through  the  years ;  how  marvelous  the 
triumph  of  thy  followers  over  the  vicissitudes 


MARIA  SANFORD  321 

of  fortune  that  met  thee  on  their  way.  Daring 
men  have  reverently  placed  thee  on  the  highest 
crag  of  the  frozen  North,  and  have  as  rever- 
ently stationed  thee  on  the  cloud-swept  wastes 
of  the  far-off  frozen  South.  They  have  followed 
thee  in  willing  service  over  the  wastes  of  every 
ocean  and  into  the  depths  of  the  impenetrable 
blue. 

Stalwart,  strong  hearted  men  have  willingly 
laid  down  their  lives  at  thy  command,  to  guard 
the  outposts  of  freedom.  Millions  of  men,  women 
and  children  have  stood  at  attention  listening 
for  the  first  sound  of  thy  need,  willing  to  give 
their  all,  if  need  be,  for  thy  defense.  Thousands 
upon  thousands  of  our  bravest  and  our  best  fol- 
lowed thee  across  the  seas  for  the  glorious  privi- 
lege of  defending  the  weak  and  the  helpless  or 
of  reinforcing  the  hard  pressed  lives  of  brave 
men  who  would  not  yield. 

Our  flag — it  has  long  been  known  as  the  em- 
blem of  strength  and  power.  The  stricken  na- 
tions of  the  earth  have  learned  sweeter  attri- 
butes, kindly  sympathy,  loving  service,  gener- 
ous helpfulness.  By  these  thou  art  welcome 
throughout  the  earth. 

Glorious  and  beautiful  flag  of  our  fathers,  the 
Star  Spangled  Banner,  beautiful  in  thine  own 
waving  folds,  glorious  in  the  memory  of  the 
21 


322  MAEIA  SANFORD 

brave  deeds  of  those  who  chose  thee  for  their 
standard ! 

More  beautiful,  more  glorious  is  the  great 
nation  which  has  inherited  their  land  and  their 
flag,  if  we  who  claim,  who  boast  our  lineage 
from  those  heroes  gone,  if  we  inherit  not  alone 
their  name,  their  blood,  their  banner,  but  inherit 
their  nobler  part,  the  spirit  that  actuated  them ; 
their  love  of  liberty,  their  devotion  to  justice, 
their  inflexible  pursuance  of  righteousness  and 
truth. 

Most  beautiful  and  most  glorious  shalt  thou 
be  as  the  messenger  of  such  a  nation,  bearing 
to  the  ends  of  the  earth  the  glad  tidings  of  the 
joy  and  the  glory  and  the  happiness  of  a  people 
where  freedom  is  linked  with  justice,  where  lib- 
erty is  restrained  by  law,  and  where  "peace  on 
earth,  good  will  to  men"  is  the  living  creed. 

Press  on,  press  on,  glorious  banner,  bearing 
this  message  to  all  the  peoples: 

' '  Our  hearts,  our  hopes  are  all  with  thee ; 
Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  tears ; 
Our  faith,  triumphant  o'er  our  fears, 
Are  all  with  thee ;  are  all  with  thee. ' ' 


DATE  DUE 


GAYLORD 


MTEO  IN  USA. 


A     000722911     5 


